Павлюченко помог "Тоттенхэму" обыграть "Уотфорд"

В четвертьфинале Кубка лиги "Тоттенхэм" одержал победу над "Уотфордом". Отметим, что первый гол в ворота хозяев с пенальти забил российский нападающий Роман Павлюченко, который провёл на поле весь матч.

Кубок лиги. Четвертьфинал.

"Уотфорд" — "Тоттенхэм" — 1:2.
Голы: Прискин, 14 (1:0); Павлюченко, 45-пен (1:1); Бент, 76 (1:2).

Harry Redknapp said Roman Pavlyuchenko 'showed great character' to slot home our equaliser from the penalty spot in a crucial moment just before half-time in Wednesday night's Carling Cup quarter-final win at Watford.

The spot-kick came just moments after the Russian striker had wasted our best opportunity of the first half.

There was only a minute to go of the first 45 when Roman capitalised on Leigh Bromby's slip only to crash his shot off the crossbar when he was clean through on goal.

The fourth official showed two minutes of added time and that period was almost up when Jermaine Jenas was tripped in the box by Ross Jenkins.

Roman didn't hesitate in taking the responsibility and slotted home his seventh goal of the campaign.

That goal paved the way for our 2-1 victory and a place in the semi-finals was secured by substitute Darren Bent in the 76th minute.

"Darren Bent is our regular penalty taker but he was on the bench, so Pavlyuchenko stepped up," reflected Harry.

"He had just missed a good opportunity when he went through and hit the crossbar, so he showed great character to step up for the penalty."

Harry also said it was great to see Darren back on the scoresheet with his 12th in all competitions this season.

"I told him to go out there and do his stuff for us," added Harry. "I wanted him to show for the ball, to run and hold up the ball. Scoring goals is most important but I want our strikers to contribute in other areas."

Roman Pavlyuchenko has settled nicely into life at The Lane and is now looking forward to taking his next step - getting involved in the dressing room banter!

The Russian striker is still learning the language, but he has become more than familiar with the English game since arriving from Spartak Moscow in the summer.

Roman netted his seventh goal of the season in our Carling Cup win over Watford on Wednesday, but he is pleased with the way the team are performing overall at the moment after a difficult start to the season.

And now he cannot wait to get the lingo down to a tee so he can start getting his own back on some of the team's pranksters!

"I've worked hard every day in order to be able to adapt to the English style of football, and now I'm comfortable with it," said Roman.

"It was difficult to start with because the team was at the bottom of the table, but I was always confident we would turn it around because of the reputation of the Club.

"It's great when the team performs as a whole. My fellow strikers, Darren and Fraizer, are also performing very well at the moment.

"My English is improving day by day, I'm learning new words all the time, and I have this feeling that I will very soon explode with a knowledge of English!

"I get some of the jokes already, but just wait until I can speak good English - it will be payback time for jokes!"

Roman has also reserved special praise for his manager, Harry Redknapp, adding: "All the players have opened up under Harry and we are not carrying any weight on our shoulders at the moment.

"Harry seems to be able to find the words to inspire players and inspire the way the team plays."