Town 0
Tottenham 1
van de Ven 52
“We left points out there,” said a deflated Rob Edwards after the Hatters fell to a defeat against ten-man Tottenham Hotspur.
As it was one of those days. Again.
For Edwards and the Town to come off the field disappointed not to have taken something off one of the ‘top six’ - was testament to another performance that warranted more as the Hatters endeavoured to keep their unbeaten visitors at bay in an intoxicating encounter inside a packed Kenilworth Road.
It was frantic and it was fascinating; but, yet again, it was that killer instinct in both boxes that was difference on a day which could have seen the Town take a point and maybe all three.
However, if the first seven minutes were to go by, it seemed as though the Hatters were going to endure a very long afternoon.
Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs flew out of the blocks and could – and perhaps should – have been three goals ahead inside seven minutes. Thomas Kaminski was brilliant to save the second of those chances, denying Richarlison from close range.
Having ridden their luck and kept Tottenham at bay, slowly but surely the Town grew into the game. That said, Spurs’ threat was not going away. Kaminski made another immense save, getting down low to turn Dejan Kulusevski’s low effort around the post.
But with every passing minute the Town were growing in confidence and belief. Tom Lockyer had the ball in the Spurs net – which was rightly chalked off for a foul – but as half-time approached you felt as though the Hatters had the opponents’ measure after a nervy opening.
At 0-0 the game turned. Yves Bissouma had already been booked before he decided to throw himself to the ground following a weaving run goalwards. There was no foul. There was a dive, and referee Brooks had no option to show the midfielder a needless and indeed silly second yellow card.
But here comes the but: the Town’s Achilles heel this season has been their failure to take chances and then be punished at the other end.
So guess what?
On 47 minutes the Town should have led. Chiedozie Ogbene raced down the right and delivered a perfect cross on a plate for Elijah Adebayo. However, from inside the six-yard box the striker couldn’t turn home.
So guess what?
Five minutes later, after a succession of Tottenham corners, Micky van de Ven turned home the loose ball to give Tottenham the lead.
It had the Wolves game written all over it.
The Town plugged away, aiming to make their extra man count and on 64 minutes another good chance fell their way when Alfie Doughty’s wonderful left-wing cross was nodded over by an unmarked Jacob Brown.
As both sides made their changes, the game lacked fluency as the Hatters tried in vain to find a leveller against a Tottenham side that had packed their backline to see out the points.
And despite five minutes of injury time, the Town could not raise themselves for one last chance.
Come the final whistle both sets of players showed the toll of an exhausting afternoon.
So the wait goes on for the Hatters’ first Premier League victory – next up here is Liverpool.
Next up, in a fortnight, is a trip to Forest. See you then.
Town: Kaminski; Andersen (sub Mengi 59), Burke, Lockyer (sub Barkley 81), Doughty, Obgene; Nakamba, Mpanzu (sub Berry 66); Adebayo (sub Chong 67), Morris, Brown (sub Woodrow 67)
Subs: Krul, Kaboré, Mengi, Giles, Johnson.
Attendance: 10,929.