Cole shows old failings as tired Spurs hang on

Andy Cole's hopes of settling a few old scores by netting on his Blackburn Rovers debut were frustrated yesterday as Tottenham scrambled to a win which keeps them in touch with the possibility of European football next year.

In the course of this frantic, error-strewn affair, Blackburn's record £8m signing had a rough count of five chances. According to the keenly resented assessment of Cole's abilities by Tottenham's manager Glenn Hoddle, who said he needed five opportunities to score once, the Rovers newcomer should have ended up with the goal he wanted.

That he did not was partly his own fault ­ most notably when he miskicked in front of goal from Keith Gillespie's 48th-minute cross ­ and partly down to the outstanding reflexes of Tottenham's keeper Kasey Keller, who beat away his 78th-minute header from a corner.

But there was no joy either for Teddy Sheringham, the man who partnered Cole up front for several years at Manchester United, despite the fact that the two men hardly exchanged a civil word in that time.

It was left to the centre-back Dean Richards to make the breakthrough for a home side on the slide, having taken just one point from their previous nine. Richards evaded a generally efficient Rovers defence a minute before half-time to glance home Darren Anderton's corner, a set-piece which had been earned by Anderton's dogged challenging of Henning Berg.

The result leaves the visitors just three places clear of the relegation area having lost six of their last seven games. But the visiting manager, Graeme Souness, remained sanguine after seeing his side go down at the ground where he began his own illustrious career.

"Our priority is to stay up and if we play as well as we did in the last 25 minutes we will be fine," Souness said. "I'm not panicking. I know we've got good players, and as long as they keep believing, we will come through."

Cole, he said, had not had the opportunity to train properly with his new colleagues because of the weather. "Robbie Fowler wasn't match fit when he moved to Leeds from Liverpool because he hadn't been in the first team," Souness said. "Andy Cole is in a similar situation. He has not been playing regular football for a while. I would imagine he needs four to five games to be a sharp as he wants to be."

Some of the Tottenham players looked as if they needed four or five games' rest to recover their own sharpness. By the time the referee blew his whistle after three minutes of injury time, the home side were hanging on desperately, having given the ball away with a regularity that caused muffled groans around the ground.

Hoddle acknowledged the fault, ascribing it to tiredness brought about by the seasonal demands of four Premiership games in 10 days.

"That was down to one thing ­ fatigue," he said. "We've had a very busy Christmas period, and when you are a passing side you have to do the running to make all the angles. So the passing is the first thing that goes when you are tired."

What makes fatigue tell all the more, of course, is age ­ and at times the Tottenham line-up looked overly stocked with players edging towards the end of their careers. Short-term problems loom as well in the forward department. Les Ferdinand was again troubled by his left ankle, Sheringham is facing a three-match suspension, Steffen Iversen is unlikely to be fit for Saturday's FA Cup tie against Coventry and Sergei Rebrov is rumoured to be looking at a move.

Hoddle refused to comment on the latter situation ­ "he hasn't said anything to me about a move" ­ with speculation linking the Ukrainian striker with a transfer to either Italy or Spain.

The man who dropped Cole from the England World Cup squad in 1998 also kept his comments on the Blackburn striker to a minimum. "I'm sure Andy Cole is going to score many, many goals for Blackburn," he said.

Thankfully for Hoddle and Spurs, however, the former Manchester United man is still playing himself in.

Tottenham Hotspur (3-5-2): Keller 8; Perry 7, Richards 7, King 7; Taricco 5, Anderton 7, Freund 5, Poyet 8 (Sherwood, 84), Ziege 5; Ferdinand 6, Sheringham 7. Substitutes not used: Sullivan (gk), Rebrov, Davies, Gardner.

Blackburn Rovers (4-4-2): Friedel 7; Berg 6, Short 6, Bjornebye 7 (Dunn 7, 60), Neill 7; Gillespie 5 (Hignett 6, 70), Flitcroft 6, Tugay 7, Duff 6; Cole 7, Jansen 6 (Ostenstad, 79). Substitues not used: Kelly (gk), Taylor.

Referee: J Winter (Stockton-on-Tees) 6.