‘Right place, right time’ - Ben on crucial goal against Newcastle
Tue 05 April 2022, 14:45|Tottenham Hotspur
How important could this goal be? The photograph captures perfectly how much it meant to goalscorer Ben Davies as he sparked a comeback against Newcastle United on Sunday. Twenty minutes later, we were 4-1 up, and on our way up to fourth place.
Already up for a corner, Ben was in the right place at the right time to guide home a wicked delivery from Heung-Min Son to level the scoreline at 1-1, just four minutes after Fabian Schar fired the visitors into the lead from a free-kick.
Matt Doherty headed home for 2-1 three minutes into the second half, and we went into overdrive from there with quickfire goals from Sonny and Emerson Royal. Steven Bergwijn wrapped it with a late fifth.
Newcastle had frustrated us, however, so Ben’s quick response to Schar’s opener was vital.
“It was an important time of the game,” reflected Ben on his goal. “If teams come here and get an early goal, they can sit behind the ball, and the longer that goes on, the harder it becomes, so it was nice to get back in the game very quickly.
“The first half was very frustrating, we had a lot of the ball, but we didn’t create too many chances. Having said that, I don’t think we really deserved to go behind, that was bit disappointing, but the goal came at an important time and got us right back into it.
“It was a big win. We had good momentum going into the international break, but it was important to step up again, and we did that.”
Humble as ever, Ben typically didn’t want to go over the top on his goal – his sixth in 263 appearances for us, and first at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
“Right place, right time,” he said. “Sonny does a lot of work for me with the cross and I just got my head to it. I’ll take that.” Pushed a touch further, he added: “Okay, I leapt like a salmon! It’s been a while so I may as well enjoy it!”