Tottenham Hotspur Stunned By Young Boys

Tottenham Hotspur were left stunned last night in the first leg of their Champions League play-off as the Young Boys went 3-0 up in the first thirty minutes.

The London side had played in the top flight of European football since 1960 and looked like they were going to face an embarrassing early exit as they struggled play on the plastic pitch.

The Swiss side showed their intent in the opening couple of minutes as Senad Lulic struck the post before he found the back of the net to take a shock early lead.

Spurs looked nothing like the side that were all over Manchester City at the weekend but they did have a chance to level the match when Giovani dos Santos ran at the Young Boys but keeper Marco Wolfli came to the rescue, blocking the shot.

The Young Boys were clearly comfortable on the artificial surface and they doubled Tottenham's troubles in the thirteenth minute as Henri Bienvenu charged through the Spurs defence to make it 2-0.

Another chance came Tottenham's way five minutes later when Pavlyuchenko sent a great cross into the box but Defoe was unable to connect and a chance to get an away goal on the board went begging.

And things got even worse just ten minutes later when Hochstrasser exposed a nervy defence when he fired home a third goal to leave Tottenham, who would have gone into the match feeling confident, reeling.

Redknapp made his first change ten minutes before half time when he brought off left back Benoit Assou-Ekotto for central midfielder Tom Huddlestone.

Three minutes from time and the Tottenham fans finally had something to cheer about when Bassong headed home a corner from Bale to steady the ship and the nerve.

And with Defoe coming close before half time it looked like the London club were getting used to the surface.

Into the second half and  Niko Kranjcar replaced Luka Modric and Tottenham seemed to be playing with more confidence and purpose as the chances came thick and fast.

Defoe and Pavlychenko both had chances to find the back of the net while Bale sent a shot over the bar. Defoe was replaced by Robbie Keane as Redknapp tried to get some more fire power onto the pitch.

The second goal came from Pavlyuchenko when he fired home a shot from twenty five yards, picking up a pass from Keane, which screamed into the top corner.

At full time Tottenham Hotspur had hope going into their home leg next week as the score remained 3-2.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw