2  Steven REID     
23  Gareth McAULEY
  3  Jonas OLSSON  (o.g.)  (12  Craig DAWSON 77)
  6  Liam RIDGEWELL     

18  AMALFITANO
21  Yussouf MULUMBU
11  Chris BRUNT (c) 
22  Stephane SESSIGNON    (  5  Claudio YACOB 58)
17  Graham DORRANS     

20  Matej VYDRA    (38  Saido BERAHINO 72)

Unused subs: 
13  Boaz MYHILL
28  Billy JONES
16  Victor ANICHEBE
50  Thieve BIFOUMA
 

16  Kyle NAUGHTON
  4  Younes KABOUL (c)
  6  Vlad CHIRICHES  (32  Zeki FRYERS 46)
  3  Danny ROSE       (17  Andros TOWNSEND 85)

  7  Aaron LENNON
  8  PAULINHO
23  Christian ERIKSEN       
21  Nacer CHADLI (22  Gylfi SIGURDSSON 78)

10  Emmanuel ADEBAYOR
37  Harry KANE 

Unused subs: 
24  Brad FRIEDEL
51  Milos VELJKOVIC
42  Nabil BENATLEB
62  Harry WINKS

With slow starts having been the theme of this season, a goal by Matej Vydra in the first 25 seconds put Tottenham behind before a lot of fans had drawn breath.

With Albion kicking off, there was barely a touch on the ball by a Spurs player before Amalfitano beat Danny Rose too easily on the Tottenham left and fired a low cross that Hugo Lloris pushed out at the near post, but straight into the middle of the box, where Vydra set himself to power a shot past Lloris as he tried to recover his position.

The last time we conceded a goal so early, Manchester City went on to record a 6-0 win.  However, the one goal soon became two down inside five minutes, as Reid's lofted cross was headed on to the far post and Chris Brunt was on his own to strike a low left foot volley that curled off the outside of his foot to hit the net.

Amalfitano went down on the edge of the box, when Eriksen challenged him, but didn't touch him, but s he lay on the floor, Kaboul looked as if he caught the Baggies midfielder on the head, but whether it was intended or not, it was unclear.  Tottenham took seven minutes to have a shot at goal, when a long ball was laid off by Adebayor and Kane moved it to his right to hit a low shot that finished up a foot wide of Foster's right hand post without the keeper moving. 

There was a great opportunity for Harry Kane when Eriksen freed Rose down the left.  the full back's ball along the ground was to the near post and Kane met it. with nobody else near him, but from a yard out, he managed to put the ball wide of the goal.  It was a golden chance to get Spurs back into the match.

Spurs did get the opportunity to reduce the arrears in the 15th minute, when Danny Rose was bundled over by Amalfitano in the area.  Up stepped Adebayor and side-footed it straight to Foster's left and the keeper had time to fall on it and make an easy save.  It was an appalling effort by a striker who had been scoring for fun.  It was an odd one to win the penalty in the first place, as an award of a spot-kick looked much more likely at the other end, where striped shirts hit the ground every time they got challenged in the area.

A free kick for a cynical elbow to Danny Rose's head by Reid came to nothing and when Albion launched their next attack, they almost went 3-0 ahead.  Spurs were sucked inside to go to Mulumbu with the ball and he played in Amalfiano on their right, just inside the right hand corner of the box.  He struck a sweet shot, but luckily for Spurs, Hugo stood up to it and had strong enough wrists to push it up and over the bar. 

Without a defensive midfielder in the side, Spurs were making it easy for Albion's swarming midfielders to get in the spaces in front  of the back four.  Paulinho did get a shot straight at Foster a minute before the half an hour mark, but there was a characteristic slowness about the build-up that allowed lots of striped shirts get behind the ball and squeeze the space available.

The way the possession was going, Spurs should have made it count, but the crosses into the box were not picking out blue shirts.  So when Lennon lost the ball in the WBA area, a long ball came off Kaboul's head to put Sessignon away, Chiriches couldn't keep up with him and the Benin international beat Lloris from inside the box as the keeper went one way, the ball went the other.

There was a huge element of luck when Tottenham did get on the score-sheet, as Kane slipped a ball inside the full back and Kyle Naughton's cross was deflected over Foster by the out-stretched leg of Olsson as he slid to try and stop the ball. 

It seemed to inspire Tottenham, as a breakaway saw Paulinho hit a bobbling shot from outside the area and Foster did well to push it wide, but Rose was there and he screwed his shot on target, but the keeper had got back to beat it out.  It could easily have been three or four all at the break.  The first half had almost everything except a sending off, but if this is what Sherwood means by having fun, then he can keep it.  Get your coat Tim !!

The second half started with Spurs attacking and fro a position where Brunt scored his goal, Paulinho's cross was headed out to Rose, who hit a volley that went a yard wide of the goal.  Then Paulinho squared to Lennon, who came inside to hit a left foot shot along the ground that Foster pushed side for a corner.  A free kick followed shortly after and Eriksen's shot was bent ion from the left wing and was heading to the top corner at Foster's near post until the goalie fumbled it round the post.

Danny Rose went to ground in the box under challenge by Reid and got booked for simulation, then Kaboul and Reid had a set to, which brought a talking to from the referee.  Being under pressure from the start of the second half, Mel brought on Yacob to add even more bite to the Baggies midfield.  This resulted in a little spell of West Brom players having a kick at Lennon to try and bully him off the ball.  Interesting that the referee deems this acceptable while a dive gets a yellow card for the first offence until he had to take action as Lennon was brought down cynically by Dorrans as he ran away from him.  Reid soon followed him into the book with a trip on Kane.

For all Tottenham's increased urgency and possession, they rarely got through the packed home defence.  Spurs were almost reading the Albion's plays and picking the ball off started to get in on goal.  Naughton's ball in to Kane was saved by a last ditch tackle by McAuley and then when the next phase of play saw Paulinho's low diagonal ball across the box. Kane only just failed to get on the end of it, with Foster spreading himself in case the Spurs youngster got a touch.  When Lennon went down the right wing in the 70th minute and stood up a cross to the far post, Kane did get a  decent contact and his header went in off Dorrans on the line.  The goal came at a time when it looked like Spurs were not going to break through, but it rattled the home team and they resorted to throwing the ball away when free-kicks were given and wasting as much time as possible at throw-ins, getting treatment and making a substitution.  I also think referees these days appear to be unable to count to six, as Foster was regularly hanging onto the ball in his hands for a count of eight ... and a slow count at that.

Eriksen had a shooting opportunity when Adebayor won a header, but he could not quite wrap his foot around it enough to get it on target.  Sigurdsson replaced Chadli and Spurs were pushing all the harder to get one back.  When Kaboul played the ball from the right into Adebayor's feet, his shot on the turn as blocked and the ball ran left into Danny Rose's path, but he skied his effort way over the bar.

Twice Ridgewell headed the ball away when Kaboul threw it it ho to take a throw, but the referee only booked him when he fouled Naughton.  The performance by referee Swarbrick was pathetic and there is nothing more that frustrates fans than seeing teams get a way with time-wasting and Albion were seeking every second.  Coupled with a bad foul on Gylfi near the end, Swarbrick needs to be down-graded for the health and safety of the players if nothing else.

What was a good position for Spurs was wasted, when Eriksen put in Fryers on the left and his low cross only found the first man.  As Albion tried to run the clock down,  Spurs kept going forward and Lennon chipped an added time cross from the right that was headed out to the far post,.   Christian Eriksen took the ball down, steadied himself for a right foot shot that ripped into the roof of the net.  3-3 !!

It was all Albion deserved for their negative second half display and their blatant attempts to run time down back-fired when Spurs hit back at the end and pressed for a winner in the six minutes added on at the end of the 90.  With the referee booking Foster for holding onto the ball when the third Spurs goal went in was a joke.  How many times does it take for them to realise that booking players early on might stop them time-wasting again ?

For Tottenham, they need to look at how they are starting matches.  We don't score in the first fifteen minutes, but we are now starting to give goals away inside that period and then have to come back to beat teams.  Let's get ahead and then drive our advantage home.  That's what Spurs fans want to see Tim.

Paddy Kingston