Spurs through despite stalemate

Tottenham 0
Hearts 0

Tottenham qualified for the group stages of the Europa League last night, despite drawing a blank against SPL side Hearts.

The 5-0 thrashing the week before was more than enough to see the North London outfit advance to the next round.

Spurs manager Harry Redknapp opted to field a weakened team in comparison to last weeks win and the 3-0 defeat to Manchester United on Monday night with only Michael Dawson and Jake Livermore retaining their respective starting spots.

The likes of Harry Kane, Tom Carroll and Andros Townsend were all handed their first senior starts in a game where the away side started the brighter of the two.

Gordon Smith saw a superb half volley cannon back off the crossbar with Carlo Cudicini, Spurs third keeper on three competitive games, powerless to stop his effort.

Roman Pavlyucheko forced a smart save out of Jamie McDonald at the other end while Cudicini was equal to Danny Graingers free-kick, getting down low to parry his effort at the near post.

The best effort of the game came 15 minutes before half-time as Kane raced onto a through ball from Carroll only to be upended by McDonald.

However, the Hearts keeper was equal to the youngsters penalty, palming away with the ensuing attack resulting to nothing.

David Templeton and Eggert Jonsson both went close to breaking the deadlock after the interval while Pavlyuchenko and substitute Niko Kranjcar both had the best chances for Spurs in the second half.