The Hindu : Sport / Football : Defoe scores five as Tottenham runs riot

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Defoe scores five as Tottenham runs riot

— Photo: AP

IN ROARING FORM: Tottenham’s Jermain Defoe scored five goals, including a seven-minute hat-trick, as Tottenham overwhelmed Wigan 9-1 on Sunday.

LONDON: England striker Jermain Defoe scored five second-half goals as an irresistible Tottenham Hotspur demolished Wigan Athletic 9-1 to go fourth in the Premier League on Sunday.

Defoe stunned the hapless visitors with a mesmerising second-half blitz at White Hart Lane after Spurs had gone in 1-0 up at the break thanks to a ninth-minute Peter Crouch header.

After hitting the bar in the 34th minute, Defoe opened his account in the 51st and wasted no time in completing his hat-trick seven minutes later.

He then netted again in the 69th and completed his tally with a right-foot shot three minutes from time as Tottenham fans sang “we want 10”.

Aaron Lennon also struck in the 64th while shell-shocked Wigan keeper Chris Kirkland added to the goal tally in the 88th when a David Bentley shot rebounded off the angle, hit him on the back and went in.

Croatia’s Niko Kranjcar scored in the dying seconds to wrap up Tottenham’s biggest win for 32 years, when it beat Bristol Rovers 9-0 in the second division, and its biggest in the Premier League.

Controversial goal

Wigan’s only reply was a controversial Paul Scharner goal in the 57th minute, with the player appearing to control the ball with his hand before scoring.

Tottenham is level on 25 points with North London rival Arsenal but behind the Gunners on goal difference.

Blackburn Rovers shrugged off the absence of manager Sam Allardyce, who is awaiting heart surgery, to beat his former club Bolton Wanderers 2-0 in Sunday’s lunchtime kickoff.

Victory in the Lancashire derby ended Blackburn’s run of 10 successive away defeats, the team’s first points on its travels this season lifting it to 11th place. Defeat left Wanderers third from bottom.

David Dunn netted the opener in the 32nd minute, curling the ball into the top corner past the outstretched Jussi Jaaskelainen in goal. Bolton defender Sam Ricketts then headed into his own net in the 73rd.

The results: Bolton 0 lost to Blackburn 2 (Dunn 32, Ricketts 73-og); Stoke 1 (Fuller 74) bt Portsmouth 0

Tottenham 9 (Crouch 9, Defoe 51, 54, 58, 69, 87, Lennon 64, Kirkland 88-og, Kranjcar 90) bt Wigan 1 (Scharner 57). On Saturday: Manchester Unitedd 3 (Fletcher 35, Carrick 67, Valencia 76) bt Everton 0.

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