ANGE’S BOYS HIT BULLSEYE

Maupay made to pay for darts celebration as Spurs deadly with early second-half blitz

MAYBE Ange Postecoglou should get Neal Maupay to do all of his team talks in future.

Because the problem with being a wind-up merchant is that it quickly backfires if you only succeed in winding up the opposition.

Brentford striker Maupay was on a one-man mission to goad Spurs with a darts celebration to mock James Maddison, together with his full repertoire of backchat and niggling fouls.

But Tottenham clearly had enough and blitzed three goals past Brentford within the space of eight minutes to set themselves up for a victory that lifts them back into the Champions League places.

Destiny Udogie, Brennan Johnson and Richarlison all scored to turn the game on its head straight after half-time and the latter two both then produced a darts celebration to make their point to Maupay. Does it sound petty? Yes. And that is because it was wonderfully childish and highly entertaining, but probably left Maupay with a huge dollop of egg on his face.

But it also produced a superb five-goal thriller and best darts match since the World Championships down the road at Alexandra Palace.

Maddison is a big character and has made the darts celebration his own by pretending to throw an arrow every time he scores.

But, clearly, the opposition like to have the last laugh on him. Sure enough, Maupay – who has made a reputation as the Premier League’s biggest wind-up merchant – could not resist when he put Brentford ahead after 15 minutes.

Maupay won the ball off Rodrigo Bentancur, Christian Norgaard released Ivan Toney whose shot was saved by keeper Guglielmo Vicario, but Maupay was on hand to force home the rebound.

He celebrated by pretending to throw a dart, Maddison did not like it and grabbed the Brentford forward round the neck. The wind-ups carried on throughout the first half as Maupay and Dejan Kulusevski were booked after a bust-up.

Tottenham were getting frustrated and annoyed.

Postecoglou made a double change at half-time – bringing on Pierre-emile Hojbjerg and Johnson – and duly looked like a tactical genius.

Tottenham were level after 48 minutes when Udogie swapped passes with Timo Werner, Udogie then saw his shot blocked by Ethan Pinnock, but the Spurs full-back put in the rebound.

Just one minute and 12 seconds later, the home side were in front.

This time, Werner’s low cross found Johnson at the back post and he slid in to score – before marking his goal with a darts celebration.

Then, after 56 minutes, it should have been game over.

Udogie powered forward, Maddison saw his shot blocked and then Richarlison scored from close range with his seventh goal in as many games.

And, obviously, Richarlison made the darts celebration.

Tottenham were in cruise control. But then Udogie made things interesting with a kamikaze back pass. He could not have seen Toney (left) lurking and played in the striker, who smashed home to make it interesting again.

Maddison went off with cramp near the end, but must have impressed England boss Gareth Southgate up in the stands. But the drama was still not over.

Bees sub Shandon Baptiste had a shot tipped over by Vicario as Spurs clung on – and there was a real sense of relief at the final whistle.