Maddison returns, Davies and Williams-Barnett on target in draw against Hoffenheim

Just 24 hours after the two sides met with our 3-0 win at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, we faced off again against the Bundesliga side with a completely different starting XI. This team had the likes of Mateus Fernandes, James Maddison, Rodrigo Bentancur, Pape Matar Sarr, Ben Davies and Kevin Danso – with Maddison making his first start in almost a year since his serious knee injury.

Behind closed doors and in the glorious sunshine at our Enfield training base, the first sight at goal for either side fell our way on 12 minutes when Damola Ajayi had a shot blocked after great work from Williams-Barnett but the visitors were in front a few minutes later. Maddison received the ball from Brandon Austin inside our own box and was immediately closed down by Leon Avdullahu, who robbed him of the ball and the England midfielder brought him down for a penalty. Up stepped Adam Hlozek to convert right-footed past Austin.

Shortly after, we fashioned a good chance which ended with Fernandes sending in a tempting low cross just out of reach of Sarr and Vladimir Coufal almost put the ball into his own net. Instead, he conceded a corner from which Fernandes received a return pass from the short corner and his lovely cross was glanced into the bottom corner by Davies for the equaliser.

The visitors then had a number of efforts at goal, Coufal with a free-kick into the side-netting before Nathan De Cat fizzed a yard wide with a curling 30-yard shot.

Four minutes before the break, Adam Daghim suddenly found himself through on goal but Austin stood tall and blocked his eventual shot, before we grabbed the lead right on the stroke of half-time. An excellent turn in midfield from Sarr allowed him to advance towards the Hoffenheim box, he then laid the ball off to Williams-Barnett whose first-time, low curling drive beat Luca Philipp to give us a 2-1 half-time advantage.

Roberto De Zerbi made just the one change at half-time with Reiss Elliott-Parris replacing Maddison while the visitors changed all 10 of their outfield players and were level 10 minutes into the second period. Austin had already made a good stop to keep out Alex Honajzer’s free-kick but could do nothing about Valentin Gendrey’s excellent side-foot volley from a deep cross from their left.

Danso almost restored our lead but hit the crossbar with a powerful header from Williams-Barnett’s cross before a long spell without any real goalmouth action. Then, with five minutes remaining, two of our substitutes combined as Harry Byrne clipped over a deep cross which Miracle Adewole headed over the bar but that was the last of the chances and we had to settle for the draw.

The friendlies are now over and we can now look forward with excitement to the start of the Premier League campaign, when we visit Brentford next Saturday, kick-off at 5.30pm.

Line-ups

Spurs (4-3-3): Austin, Tye Hall, Danso, Davies, Souza (Byrne 69), Fernandes, Sarr (Donley 87), Bentancur, Williams-Barnett (Tyrese Hall 87), Maddison (Elliott-Parris 46), Ajayi (Adewole 69). Substitutes (not used): Jack, Takai, Hardy.

Hoffenheim (4-4-2): Philipp, Coufal (Abraha 46), Hranac (Chaves 46), Hajdari (c) (Spranger 46), Rots (Bernardo 46), Wimmer (Lemperle 46), Avdullahu (Burger 46), De Cat (Honajzer 46), Daghim (Lenz 46), Conte (Moerstedt 46), Hlozek (Vogt 32 (Gendrey 46)). Substitutes (not used): Baumann, Biedermann, Kabak, Machida.

Match data

Goals: Spurs – Davies 20, Williams-Barnett 45+2; Hoffenheim – Hlozek 16 penalty, Gendrey 55.

Referee: Ruebyn Ricardo.

Venue: Hotspur Way.

Weather: Light cloud, light winds, 25 degrees.

Behind Closed Doors.