Carrying our characteristic tenacity into 2026 earned us a hard-earned point against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City on New Year’s Day – proving once again that we could hold our own against the finest sides in world football.
Thursday’s result was an ideal launchpad for the year ahead and for our trip to London, with a faltering Tottenham Hotspur the next stop for our travelling faithful – our first away game of the year… and it certainly didn’t disappoint.
A tale of two halves: a languidly disjointed
first was followed by a spirited, gutsy second as Régis Le Bris’ men dug their heels in to claim a share of the spoils.
The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was one of the newly erected grounds yet to be frequented by the red-and-white army, and while their home form has been patchy of late, the opening exchanges failed to provide us with the warm welcome we would have been hoping for.
Thursday’s exploits looked to have taken their toll on the Lads, with Le Bris opting for the same starting XI this time round. We were leggy and a yard off the pace as Nordi Mukiele crucially blocked Richarlison’s goal-bound header in the opening 30 minutes. We were being out-worked and undone by an unrelenting Spurs high press.
Afforded precious little time in possession, we were pegged back and forced to resort to hoofball as our defensive unit plundered countless unanswered long balls up to Brian Brobbey, who cut a frustrated and isolated figure.
The North Londoners eventually made their greater intensity count as a defensive lapse from a corner allowed Ben Davies to poke home.
Le Bris’ substitutions and Spurs’ perceptible drop-off in vigour were the catalysts for our second-half resurgence. Dan Ballard’s introduction saw Mukiele switch to right-back and Trai Hume move to the left, and from then on we looked like a more cohesive and threatening unit.
As we pursued an equaliser, Simon Adingra and Brobbey both saw shots fly wide of either post, with Enzo Le Fée going closest from a cute header only to be denied by the woodwork.
We probed and pressed, with our efforts finally bearing fruit in the 80th minute.
With 10 minutes to spare, a brilliant pass-and-move attack was finished off emphatically by Brobbey as our Dutch centre-forward struck beyond a helpless Guglielmo Vicario to send our away corner into raptures.
After we restored parity, the only side that looked like winning was us. Hume tested Vicario with an audacious curling effort, forcing the Italian into an acrobatic stop denying us what surely would have been a memorable winner.
Sunday’s result and second-half performance were indicative of a side that embody fight and a self-belief that continues to galvanise us even without several key players.
I for one will continue to embrace self-congratulation. Sitting on 30 points, on the cusp of the European spots with just shy of half the season remaining, is nothing short of remarkable.
