Jermain Defoe pounced to beat West Ham and book a place in the final of the Barclays Asia Trophy against Hull City on Friday.
The
in-form striker latched onto Aaron Lennon's pass in the 75th minute and
slotted low past Robert Green for the 1-0 win at the Worker's Stadium
in Beijing, China.
Hull beat local favourites Beijing Gouan 4-3 on penalties as the evening's second game finished 1-1 after 90 minutes.
We will now meet the Tigers in the final kicking-off at 8.30pm local time, 1.30pm UK.The victory was no less than we deserved afer dominating for long periods and carving out the best chances from the first to the last minute on another hot and humid night in Beijing.
Indeed, West Ham rarely threatened - Carlton Cole scooped their best chance over from close range in the 82nd minute.
In
a lively opening few seconds Jamie O'Hara sent Kyle Naughton scampering
away down the right and the new boy, operating in right midfield,
nearly caught Green by surprise with a rising cross-shot. Captain Luka
Modric then fired wide following the resulting corner.
It was
the team in white setting the pace, with O'Hara providing the
promptings in midfield, while Wilson Palacios scurried and snapped back
possession when required.
Green took two takes to grab hold of a
Roman Pavlyuchenko shot from distance before Naughton drilled just
across the face of goal seconds after Luis Boa Morte was stretchered
off following a collision with Benoit Assou-Ekotto.
O'Hara
dispossessed Mark Noble and slipped through to Pavlyuchenko, who curled
his effort onto the post, with the rebound blocked by James Collins.
Tom Huddlestone fired just wide from a free-kick from 30 yards in the
16th minute as the pressure was cranked up on the East London side.
Naughton
cut back a deep ball from the left from O'Hara, teeing up half a chance
for Pavlyuchenko, which was blocked with the Russian looking poised to
open the scoring. O'Hara was next to opt for a curler with right-footed
effort after moving in from the left, with Pavlyuchenko smashing just
over the bar moments later.
It was pretty much one-way traffic
with West Ham offering little in the way of an offensive contribution.
It was a dominant display with plenty of creative possession, just
lacking a goal.
The excellent Modric again turned on the style
three minutes before the break, skipping forward but, like his
teammates before him, just failing to land a shot inside of Green's
left hand upright.
There was one change after the break with
Robbie Keane taking over from Pavlyuchenko, while the verve and slick
interchange of the first half was quickly in evidence with the skipper
immediately linking well with Defoe.
Keane proceeded the chip
into the path of his strike partner, who was clear of his marker, but
his shot on the turn was narrowly too high.
O'Hara and Mark
Noble were booked on 55 minutes following a coming together between the
England Under-21 teammates before some quick-footed trickery from Defoe
took him around Collins but he was unable to keep his shot down.
The
pressure was fairly unrelenting with West Ham largely pinned back in
their own half, while Harry Redknapp looked to increase the pressure
with the introduction of Aaron Lennon with 20 minutes remaining in
place of Naughton.
The deadlock was nearly broken when Keane
played in Modric inside the area, but Green advanced quickly and
managed to block his effort.
On 75 minutes the gate was finally
unlocked when Lennon squeezed Defoe clear and the little hitman struck
an effort that Green could not hold and the ball rolled into the net.
It was a more than deserved goal to cap a polished and encouraging performance at this stage in pre-season.
Spurs:
Cudicini; Hutton, Corluka, Huddlestone, Assou-Ekotto; Naughton (Lennon
70), Palacios (Livermore, 83), O'Hara, Modric; Pavlyuchenko (Keane 46),
Defoe. Unused subs: Gomes, Chimbonda, Dervite, Rose, Obika, Bostock.
West
Ham: Green; Faubert, Upson, Collins, Ilunga; Stanislas (Savio, 66),
Dyer (Parker, 46), Collison (Hines, 81), Boa Morte (Noble, 14), Jiminez
(Spector, 81); Cole. Unused subs: Stech, Kurucz, N'gala, Gabbidon,
Tomkins, Spence , Payne.
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