Everton appreciate need for Speed

A Premiership without Everton? It would not seem complete. And now it would take a cruel turn of events to see them relegated after this bruising, nerve-clawing match, won by Gary Speed but not secure until the final whistle.

Everton had again come searching for safety with only two wins in 16 matches and their 43 years of residence in the top division still threatened by their inability to maintain sometimes impressive football over the whole of a match. The dropping of Nick Barmby was a heavy hint that desperation was not far away.

If Everton's injury list is a problem, presumably Gerry Francis will still be waiting to field his "strongest" team as the season closes. Yesterday brought further injuries to John Scales, Allan Nielsen, Stephen Carr and Ruel Fox, bringing the number of first-team squad members now unfit to 15. Frustration has shadowed Tottenham for so long that it will surely be a blessing to shut the door on a campaign that has limped in step with a melancholy tune played by a band of wounded players.

Yet in a match that had the makings of a fragmented clash of worry and disillusion, suddenly there was a goal as pure and exciting as you could wish for. Duncan Ferguson had gone deep to win possession in his own half and offered the ball to Paul Rideout, who has recently been on trial with a club in China. His long-distance recall was made worthwhile when he sent Graham Stuart on a long, diagonal run that ended with a splendid cross that Speed headed in with equal accuracy.

Not that Everton should have held their advantage for long and they would not have done had Neville Southall not put his middle-aged spread in front of Nielsen at the near post after Carr had centred dangerously. It was Nielsen's last effort of the match, the Dane forced to leave the field with a head injury after a clash with Dave Watson that coloured the game an irritable red.

Although they themselves lost Terry Phelan, Everton faced an ever more injury-weakened Spurs in the second half, with Scales and Carr both having to be replaced. Different faces, same scowls. It was not pleasant to watch, although one of the substitutes, Tottenham's Fox, did at least brighten the day by avoiding six tackles on one run. Barmby's arrival had no such instant highlights but added some busyness alongside the aggression of Ferguson.

Business as usual for Everton meant more exasperation for their fans as Stuart drove a bending, goal-worthy shot that somehow Ian Walker kicked round the far post, and Barmby and the referee subjected them to more. The former Tottenham striker appeared to handle the ball when thrusting towards goal, but Ramon Vega seemed to get away with even more when he tripped Barmby to stop the danger.

When Teddy Sheringham crashed a late free-kick through a cordon of Everton defenders, the intake of breath from the trembling home crowd was like a jumbo jet's reverse thrust. But on the line the captain and acting manager, Watson, stood firm and saved the shot, the points and almost certainly the club from further worry.