What a goal, Seb Larsson!

Tottenham Hotspur 2-3 Birmingham City

Barclays Premier League

Sunday 2nd December 2007

Seb Larsson celebrates his screamer! (Photo: Unknown)

Highlights of this game aren't on YouTube but can be watched here!

At a guess, I'd estimate that I've seen somewhere in the region of 3,500 goals 'live' and whenever I get asked which one is the best I've seen, it's always Seb Larsson's injury-time winner in this encounter which springs to mind.

A personal favourite, it was an absolute thunderbolt at the end of what was a thoroughly entertaining, end-to-end and enjoyable game full of drama. It also gave Alex McLeish the best possible start to his managerial tenure at Birmingham City with him having just taken the reigns at St Andrews from Steve Bruce.

The Blues were in their first season back in the Premier League following a one-year stint in the Championship and, amidst incessant takeover talk involving Carson Yeung which seemed to last forever and a day, they'd endured a mediocre start to the campaign. Bruce had left to take over at Premier League rivals Wigan Athletic and McLeish was viewed as a good replacement - his stock being high given that he'd overseen a dramatic (albeit unsuccessful) Euro 2008 qualifying campaign with Scotland which included two victories over France.

Meanwhile, Tottenham Hotspur were enduring what could only be described as a transitional period and had only recently appointed a new manager themselves in Juande Ramos. The Spaniard had inherited what looked, on paper, to be a fantastic attacking squad with players such as Dimitar Berbatov, Jermaine Defoe, Robbie Keane, Aaron Lennon and a (very young) Gareth Bale on the books, but defensively they were a shambles and couldn't stop shipping goals - especially at White Hart Lane which had already seen 4-0, 1-3 and 4-4 scorelines in the few previous months.

If one thing was for certain then it was that goals were inevitable! With the game being part of Sky Sports' 'Super Sunday' coverage, it meant that tickets were very easy to obtain in the Birmingham end.

A general view from the away section at White Hart Lane (Photo: Unknown).

There was a really good, raucous atmosphere created by the Blues fans, tucked away in a far corner of the Upper Tier, and with it being a 4.00pm kick-off, daylight quickly became dusk. 

Spurs dictated a lot of the early play but not long after the midway point in the first half, Younes Kaboul's clumsy challenge on Gary McSheffrey resulted in a spot-kick being awarded by referee Phil Dowd and the Blues man dusted himself down to score his first ever Premier League goal.

Despite many war cries of 'Keep Right On' and 'Zulus' at sporadic intervals, an upset wasn't on the cards for too long because Robbie Keane's quickfire brace not long after half-time gave Tottenham a 2-1 advantage - and it was exactly what they deserved at that point!

However, if you don't take your chances, you run the risk of being punished and Dimitar Berbatov should have twice done better when he whacked a shot against the post before also seeing a header blocked on the line by Rafael Schmitz. It proved costly because in between those chances, Cameron Jerome accelerated away and unleashed a low drive past Paul Robinson at the other end to make it 2-2.

Controversy followed as Keane was given a straight red card for a late tackle on Fabrice Muamba - which was a turning point, yet initially - even with 10 men, Tottenham continued to drive forward with purpose as Defoe and Berbatov had further chances to restore their lead. Amidst a frantic pace with some ridiculously frenetic passages, Blues also went within a whisker of scoring again when Olivier Kapo's driven low ball was connected to by Mickael Forssell whose thunderous attempt ricocheted back off the upright, before Kapo was somehow denied by Robinson on the follow-up.

Inevitably, the script was perfectly in place for some late, last-gasp drama and that's exactly what unfolded in the 93rd minute with the full-time whistle literally just a matter of seconds away from being blown.

Tottenham's defence probably thought they'd dealt with the danger to definitely get a point when they cleared away a corner, only for Larsson to pick up possession around 40 yards out, drift inside slightly and unleash a sublime, sumptuous and the ultimate 'thunder-bastard' of bullet-strikes straight into the top-right corner from 35 yards.

It provoked wild and euphoric celebrations from those sat around me along with more war cries of 'Keep Right On'. It was unbelievable - and no doubt made all the more sickening for Tottenham's fans given that Larsson was an also a former Arsenal player! As the celebrations continued for a good few minutes following the final whistle, I'll admit now that I had more than a few passing thoughts as to whether or not there'd be hundreds of Spurs fans waiting outside and ready to kick a few heads in!

The strike, surprisingly, didn't receive the 'Goal Of The Month' accolade on Match Of The Day though it was a contender. Nevertheless, in my eyes, it'll always be a goal which I look back on with fond memories because of the dramatic context of when it was scored, how it was scored, and how much of a ridiculously good, entertaining game it was.

Of all the goals I've witnessed 'live' in the years since, only Aritz Aduriz's strike for Athletic Bilbao against Marseille in the Europa League in February 2016 comes anywhere close.