Friendly round-up: Bentley and Bent double up in Roma mauling
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Your support makes all the difference.A London club hammered Italian opposition for the second weekend in a row as Tottenham went on the rampage at White Hart Lane and beat Roma 5-0 yesterday. David Bentley, on his home debut, and Darren Bent both scored twice as the Champions League quarter-finalists were utterly outplayed – just as Milan had been in losing by the same scoreline to Chelsea a week ago.
Spurs started with all their major signings of the summer – Bentley, Luka Modric, Giovani dos Santos and Heurelho Gomes – in a strong line-up that also included Dimitar Berbatov.
It took less than three minutes for Bentley to hand the Londoners the lead when his free-kick from the left evaded everyone and curled straight into the net. That advantage was doubled in the fifth minute when a sloppy pass from the French defender Philippe Mexès was intercepted by Bent and he slid home for his 11th goal of a promising pre-season.
Bentley capped a rousing first-half display with a third in injury time when he blasted into the bottom corner from 25 yards. The match followed a similar pattern after the break and Aaron Lennon made it 4-0 in the 50th minute with a drive from the edge of the box following good work from Giovani. Bent fired in a fifth four minutes later after Jonathan Woodgate flicked on a Bentley corner.
Wigan warmed up for next week's Premier League opener at West Ham with a comfortable win in the Netherlands yesterday, beating Utrecht 2-0. Visa problems meant Amr Zaki and Antonio Valencia could not travel for the pre-season friendly – the Latics' last of the summer – and striker Emile Heskey was also substituted early after picking up a minor injury.
The Dutchman Daniel de Ridder fired Steve Bruce's side ahead in the 29th minute with a well-placed free-kick from 25 yards. It was 2-0 on the hour when Kevin Kilbane volleyed home from six yards at full stretch, and Antoine Sibierski also hit the post late on.
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