KAS HAPPY TO BE BACK
Palmer gets Pearson out of a corner
NIGEL PEARSON’S rescue truck rammed Swansea’s promotion wagon off the road, thanks to an amazing turnaround inspired by Kasey Palmer.
Robins boss Pearson said his side could have been 3-0 down at halftime before Nahki Wells, Palmer and sub Antoine Semenyo scored to cancel Andre Ayew’s penalty.
After losing seven times in a row, the Robins have now had back-to-back away wins.
It was the Swans’ first home defeat since midoctober and a personal triumph for Palmer, the ex-chelsea man having failed to nail down a regular starting place when he spent the first half of the season on loan at Liberty Stadium.
It looked as if it might be an unhappy return for Palmer when he handled to give Ayew the chance to score the 55th-minute opener from the spot.
But rather than collapse, former Leicester boss Pearson witnessed the kind of backs-to-thewall spirit that gained so much initial success in his last spell in the Premier League with Watford.
After Wells notched the equaliser, the crucial goal that put the Robins ahead was Palmer’s outrageous effort from a corner which flew over the head of flapping Swansea keeper Freddie Woodman.
The Newcastle loanee
– who has been so consistent for the Swans this season – was then again at fault when his clearance was charged down late on by Semenyo for the visitors’ third goal.
“I have inherited a talented group of young players, with a team ethic that shines through,” said Pearson.
“That result looked unlikely in the first half. Let’s not kid ourselves, we were second best.
“I couldn’t have had any complaints if we had come in 2-0 or 3-0 down. But that just shows what football is like.
“But I have to give the players an unbelievable amount of credit – they stuck to their task and put their bodies on their line.”
Swansea boss Steve Cooper admitted his team paid for not scoring in a first half they dominated before Woodman’s errors.
He said: “Freddie’s made a couple of mistakes for the second and third goals but he’s been brilliant for us since he’s come through the door.
“The first goal was the disappointing one as it was against the run of play and against the half-time message.
“They got their tails up a little bit and we were getting ready to take a draw, but it didn’t unravel that way unfortunately.”
Wells’ well-struck leveller was set up by Zak Vyner, who squared the ball into his striker’s path after another Swans error by Marc Guehi.
NEIL WARNOCK denied old mate Mick Mccarthy a magnificent seven wins in a row.
Cardiff boss Mccarthy is attempting to emulate Warnock, who led the Bluebirds into the Premier League in 2018 with a record eighth promotion as a manager.
But Mccarthy saw his run halted yesterday when Paddy Mcnair equalised for Middlesbrough eight minutes from time.
Skipper Sean Morrison gave Cardiff a 37th-minute breakthrough with his second goal in successive games – he also scored the opener in Wednesday’s 2-1 win at Bournemouth.
Yet Mccarthy still extended his unbeaten start with the Welsh club to nine.
As a young apprentice, he used to clean Warnock’s boots at Barnsley in the 1970s.
A n d Mccarthy, whose side took the lead via Will Vaulks’ long throw, said: “Warney’s team used to launch everything into the box. He said something to me about that, and I said, ‘Well, you bought them all, I’m just using them!’ Neil was just complaining as that’s what he does.
“We’re the same. If we’re not complaining, you may as well nail the lid down as we’ll have croaked it.’’
Liverpool loan star Harry Wilson’s ninthminute free-kick brought a low save from Boro keeper Marcus Bettinelli, but Boro imposed themselves well.
Nathaniel Mendez-laing – a member of the Cardiff side who reached the Premier League three years ago – made his first Boro start. The Welsh club had terminated his contract in September after he had twice tested positive for cocaine.
And the winger was gifted a chance on half-hour mark when he just failed to get on the end of Vaulks’ risky header back to goal.
Then Cardiff struck against the run of play. Vaulks delivered the throwin from the right and Morrison’s header looped inside the far post.
But Warnock made a double change with nine minutes left – Djed Spence and Chuba Akpom – and that had an immediate effect as Boro levelled moments later. Fellow sub Neeskens Kebano took a return from Spence to centre, and after former Boro man Aden Flint’s attempted clearance hit Marcus Tavernier, Akpom got a touch before Mcnair fired in.
MIDDLESBROUGH: Bettinelli 6; Dijksteel 6, Hall 6, Fry 6; Mcnair 7; Mendez-laing 5 (Kebano 71, 6), Tavernier 7, Howson 5, Bola 5 (Johnson 71, 5); Assombalonga 5 (Akpom 81, 6), Watmore 6 (Spence 81, 6). Subs not used: Archer, Morsy, Fisher, Saville, Coulson.
CARDIFF: Phillips 7; Morrison 8, Flint 6, Nelson 7; Ng 5, Vaulks 6 (Ralls 67, 5), Pack 5, Bennett 6; Wilson 6 (Bacuna 67, 5); Moore 5, Murphy 6 (Ojo 61, 5). Subs not used: Smithies, Williams, Sang, Harris, Bagan, Hoilett.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Sean Morrison: another goal and a tower of strength again at heart of defence.
REFEREE: Jarred Gillett 6.
NOT TOO CLEVER Wilshere clashes with ex-team-mate Cleverley
BOURNEMOUTH boss Jonathan Woodgate was as delighted with the fighting spirit shown by his players in a late mass brawl as he was with victory.
An ill-tempered game boiled over deep into stoppage-time as both teams finished with 10 men in the battle of the promotion chasers.
Cherries midfielder Jack Wilshere, a 74th-minute substitute, was sent off on 99 minutes after a second yellow card for shoving former England teammate Tom Cleverley.
Two minutes earlier, Watford’s Joao Pedro had been dismissed for two bookings around 60 seconds apart – sparking a melee.
Players and coaching staff were still pushing and shoving each other as the two teams disappeared down the tunnel. And Woodgate, whose side earned their victory thanks to a second-half strike from Arnaut Danjuma, said: “We showed a hardcore surface instead of a soft underbelly.
“That was the most positive thing. Every single player was in it together, you could even see at the end. OK, there’s a slight fracas, but all your players are there sticking up for each other.”
Referee Tony Harrington had booked Wilshere for time wasting and again for his clash with Cleverley during the melee.
Of Wilshere’s dismissal, Woodgate added: “I didn’t really see a lot of it, but it’s the passion I want to see from my players. OK, It boils over at times, but I want to see my players sticking up for each other – that shows a real togetherness. If rugby players are doing it, no one talks about it.”
As well as losing Pedro through suspension, Watford boss Xisco Munoz will be without Nathaniel Chalobah for two games after his 10th booking for slapping Jefferson Lerma.
Woodgate said: “If you raise your hands with someone you have to get a red card no matter the force of the slap.”
Munoz was upset ref Harrington gave a foul against Chalobah, having first awarded a foul against Lerma, and Danjuma ran on to Steve Cook’s free-kick and beat Daniel Bachmann at his near post.
Munoz said: “Sometimes you lose the points for one decision or 10 seconds and today he was the difference.”
BOURNEMOUTH: Begovic 7, Smith 7, Carter-vickers 7, S Cook 7, Kelly 7, Pearson 8 (Billing 85, 6), Lerma 6, Stanislas 6 (Wilshere 74, 5), L Cook 7, Danjuma 8, Solanke 6 (Long 79, 6).
Subs not used: Travers, Mepham, Riquelme, Rico, Kilkenny, Anthony.
WATFORD: Bachmann 7, Femenia 7, Cathcart 6, Sierralta 6, Masina 6 (Lazaar 75, 6), Sarr 6, Chalobah 6 (Gosling 74, 6), Hughes 6, Cleverley 7, Sema 6 (Perica 83, 6), Pedro 6.
Subs not used: Elliot, Ngakia, Troost-ekong, Wilmot, Zinckernagel, Gray.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Arnaut Danjuma: Worked hard, was always positive and got his reward with the goal.
REFEREE: Tony Harrington 7.
DARREN FERGUSON hailed his comeback kings as Peterborough powered clear at the summit.
Leading scorer Jonson Clarke-harris roared to the rescue with a vital late double as Ferguson’s men snatched a sixth successive victory from the jaws of defeat.
The lowly Latics were more than a match for their high-flying hosts and sensed a victory to climb out of the drop zone when substitute Thelo Aasgaard caught out Posh keeper Christy Pym direct from a 72ndminute corner. Ferguson “That was a fantastic three points for us.
“All we need to do is focus on winning as many games as we possibly can – and this was an important one.
“It was a very different kind of victory because we were a little under par and found ourselves behind to a freak of a goal.
“But the way we responded was brilliant.
“The quality of the goal to equalise was superb and there is no doubt it was definitely a penalty for the winner. It was great character from everyone to come from behind in the way we did because Wigan came here and had a right go at us.”
Caretaker Wigan boss Leam Richardson was left to lick his wounds again after suffering heartbreak at the hands of the team sitting top of League One for the second successive Saturday.
Richardson, whose men were pipped by Lincoln the previous weeksaid: end, was annoyed by the decision to award the crucial penalty to Posh but also took considerable pride from the pain of seeing more precious points slip away.
He said: “With the effort levels and application that went into the performance, we can feel hard done by.
“We were a threat from set-pieces all day and Thelo managed to score from the corner to give us the lead but we haven’t got our just rewards and that is disappointing.”
About £150million in Harry Kane’s case – the bounty Tottenham have placed on his head.
As if anyone – and that includes Manchester United and Paris Saintgermain – is going to be foolhardy enough to stump up that cash.
Football has bled money during the pandemic and Spurs want... how much? For a 27-year-old whose best years are arguably behind him and who has only played more than 30 Premier League matches once in the past four seasons.
Yes, the goals will guarantee a return, as long as he remains fit enough to deliver them.
Someone needs to tell chief decision-maker Daniel Levy that this isn’t a remake of the Gareth Bale saga – flogging on a 23-year-old whose best days were to come in Madrid.
Levy trousered a world-record sum for the Welshman and then blew the majority of it on expensive imports.
Roberto Soldado and Paulinho are now sunning themselves in some exotic location, toasting Levy every time they raise their pina coladas skywards.
This is Kane, a serial goalscorer – but a man whose shelf life might not extend far into his third decade. And while there is no greater admirer of the way in which England’s captain has conducted himself both on and off the pitch than me, I do wonder whether time is now against one of the best all-round forwards the country has seen.
Whether there’s any way out for him to win the honours his career richly deserves – or whether he’s being priced out of a move.
It looks as if he has backed himself into a corner.
Yes, there was the very tasty carrot of a new contract to ensure that Spurs’ move into a new stadium didn’t turn out to be a White Elephant.
But a six-figure weekly salary is par for the course when you operate at the kind of heady heights Kane does.
He’s got all the trappings by now, apart from the one prize that still eludes him – a winners’ medal.
He can take his chances in north London, but they are running down with each season that he is left unfulfilled. Who knows if Jose Mourinho can rouse himself to add yet another honour to his overburdened sideboard in the Carabao Cup in a couple of months time.
Will that be enough for
Kane if he can’t engineer a move to a club where he can actually win the title? If it isn’t, he’ll finish his career pretty much where it started. To be talked about in the same hushed tones as Jimmy Greaves. To have a statue of himself erected on the pavement outside that fab stadium in north London as he overtakes Alan Shearer as the greatest goalscorer in Premier
League history.
The comparison with the Geordie legend is valid. For all his efforts with the Magpies, Shearer eclipsed Jackie Milburn’s goal tally but failed to match his trophy haul on Tyneside.
Kane could go the same way at Spurs: clobber hundreds of goals, for zero glory. The difference is Shearer had already collected his at Blackburn Rovers. His medal had been banked long before he returned home.
Will Kane end up the same way as Shearer at
Newcastle? At £150m, the options and time are against him.