Aston Villa 1-1 Tottenham match report: The Sunday Mirror verdict

Nine goals last week, but Spurs were glad of just one last night – and that was from a defender.

Michael Dawson’s effort 12 minutes from the end lifted Tottenham into third place above Arsenal overnight but underlined that they still have a long way to go to really mix it with the big boys.

Tottenham’s millionaire players must have been told the phrase often enough by the people who look

after their finances: “Past performance is no guide to future returns.”

They can’t ever before have had it drilled into their minds so forcibly by their manager though.

And if Harry Redknapp’s concerns that his side might sit back and feel happy with themselves after last week’s 9-1 win were not enough, Wigan had earlier drummed home the message.

If the Latics could respond to being on the wrong end of a hiding by beating Sunderland and keeping a clean sheet, then Jermain Defoe and Co knew another lot of goals could not be guaranteed.

Sadly for Redknapp, just as his players probably don’t listen too hard when the intricacies of investment are being explained, they didn’t heed his warnings either.

And with just 10 minutes gone in the game that might have helped them cement a place in the top four they were trailing.

What was worse was that it was from a goal at a set-piece where their defenders switched off, letting Stiliyan Petrov break free and get a free header at the near post from James Milner’s corner.

The ball struck Wilson Palacios on the line but spun to where Gabby Agbonlahor out-muscled Dawson to bundle it over for his seventh goal of the season.

Villa needed to win by seven to go above Spurs. That was never likely to happen, but they started with more verve than they have shown in the opening minutes of a home game all season.

When John Carew fancies it he is as good as anything in the Premier League and he fancied it last night, bullying Dawson as he turned him and fired over.

And Nigel Reo-Coker, restored to midfield ahead of Steve Sidwell, showed his appetite by snapping into a tackle in the first minute. It took Tottenham 21 minutes to mount an attack, and then they should have equalised.

Tom Huddlestone’s free-kick deflected for Defoe to try an instinctive volley that was saved by Brad Friedel.

And when Dawson thought he had rolled in the rebound Carlos Cuellar made a spectacular goal line clearance.

It was a chance that lifted Redknapp’s side, though, and although Villa had the best of the half – winning seven corners – Friedel needed to be alert again to collect a Vedran Corluka

free-kick which squirmed along the ground to him.

And Friedel was first in action after the break, diving to his left to push round a curling shot by Nico Kranjcar.

Yet Villa were always a threat and Carew should have done better with a header from Ashley Young’s cross. Defoe might have scored five last week, but there’s more to his game than just goals – his movement was always unsettling Villa’s defence.

And it took a smart interception by Cuellar to stop him sending clear Aaron Lennon, quiet until then, with 53 minutes gone.

Villa had to ride out a storm but defended heroically, with Cuellar especially sticking to the cause.

A wild James Milner shot with 70 minutes gone was from a rare break, and it showed how much Martin O’Neill’s side were clinging on when Agbonlahor cleared off his own line and had nobody up front to clear the ball to.

An equaliser looked certain, but when Defoe did get the ball in the net it was ruled out for handball as Sidwell headed the ball on to the Spurs striker’s raised arm before he finished the chance.

Villa wanted the same decision when Dawson’s equaliser came, but this time referee Phil Dowd ruled that Richard Dunne’s clearance had hit the defender’s chest before he drove it back into the roof of the net.