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Jordan admits Spurs gave Redknapp a fright

LONDON, England, November 7- Tottenham assistant manager Joe Jordan admits his team put recuperating boss Harry Redknapp through a unnecessarily stressful finale to his side’s 3-1 win at Fulham.

Redknapp missed Sunday’s Premier League clash at Craven Cottage as he recovers from heart surgery which is expected to keep him away from football for up to five weeks.

But the 64-year-old was watching the match on television at home and Jordan conceded his recovery would hardly have been helped by the frantic nature of Tottenham’s seventh win in eight league matches.

Fifth placed Spurs looked in cruise control after first half goals from Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon, but a Younes Kaboul own goal early in the second half set up a grandstand finish.

Only a series of fine saves from Brad Friedel and a rejected penalty claim kept Tottenham in front before Jermain Defoe got the killer third goal in stoppage time.

“We didn’t expect to get a third goal the way the game went in the second half. It was just a case of hanging in there,” Jordan said.

“In the first half we played well and deserved to be in front, but the second half was entirely different. We showed spirit and had to be resilient.

“Never mind the goalmouth scramble, that last half hour will have been a good test for Harry.

“If he passes that, which I’m sure he will, he may be back a little bit earlier.

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“He’s got another two weeks during the international break to recover.”

The defeat was frustrating for Fulham boss Martin Jol, who had hoped to beat his former club in his first meeting with them since his acrimonious departure fom White Hart Lane in 2007.

It was even worse for Jol as Spurs right-back Kyle Walker clearly handled the ball on the floor during a chaotic goalmouth scramble in stoppage time.

Referee Peter Walton failed to award the spot-kick and Jol insisted it was the wrong decision.

“I felt we were a bit hard done by in the penalty situation. It was a penalty,” Jol said.

“We deserved at least a point. I won’t say we played them off the park because they’re too good a team, but we played well and put them under pressure.

“Everyone played their part. Today Tottenham had seven or eight attempts at goal and scored three goals. We had 28 attempts on goal but scored once.

“Tottenham were very efficient but in the second half they had two attempts on goal.”

The defeat has left Fulham just one point above the relegation zone, but Jol is unconcerned by their position.

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“We should have beaten Blackburn and Everton and deserved a point today. We’re in a false position,” he said.

Right-back Zdenek Grygera was carried from the pitch with an injury to his right leg that Jol described as “serious”, but striker Andy Johnson should only be out for a week with his ankle problem.

GERMANY: TEN MAN BAYERN PULL CLEAR

Ten-man Bayern Munich went five points clear again at the top of the German league on Sunday as striker Mario Gomez scored his 20th goal of the season in a 2-1 win at bottom side Augsburg.

After a Champions League hat-trick against Napoli in midweek, Gomez headed home on 16 minutes for his 13th Bundesliga goal of the season — his 20th in 18 games in all competitions — to go top of the league’s scoring charts.

But Bayern did not have it easy in the Bavarian derby and victory came at a price as midfielder Anatoliy Tymoshchuk was sent off in the 93rd minute for a reckless tackle on Augsburg’s Daniel Baier.

“In the first half, we played well, but didn’t play with such authority after the break,” admitted Munich midfielder Toni Kroos.

“Our aim must be to play with confidence and dominate our opponents.”

Having lost vice-captain and Germany star Bastian Schweinsteiger with a broken collarbone on Wednesday, Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes opted to start with Austria teenager David Alaba for ‘Schweini’ in midfield.

After Gomez put the guests ahead, France winger Franck Ribery doubled Bayern’s lead when he fired home on 28 minutes.

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But Augsburg refused to roll over and Bayern conceded only their fourth league goal this season when Japan’s Hajime Hosogai managed to fire his shot over the line. Although Alba cleared, the referee awarded the goal.

“We gave everything right until the end. We deserve respect for that,” said Augsburg coach Jos Luhukay.

Hosogai’s 59th minute goal made for a tense final half-hour and Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer made a crucial save with seven minutes to go after Augsburg substitute striker Edmond Kapllani broke through the defence.

“He did his job and paid back a million,” quipped Bayern president Uli Hoeness after Neuer cost Bayern 22 million euros from rivals Schalke in the summer.

Bayern held on to claim the three points and re-establish their lead after the chasing pack of Dortmund, Bremen and Moenchengladbach had all won Saturday.

Earlier, Finland striker Teemu Pukki scored twice on his first full appearance for Schalke 04 to earn a point for his side in their 2-2 draw with Hanover 96 as the Royal Blues remain fifth in the table with Hanover sixth.

On Saturday, defending champions Borussia Dortmund went second with a 5-1 hammering of VfL Wolfsburg as Japan star Shinji Kagawa and Germany teenager Mario Goetze ran riot.

Kagawa set up both the first and fourth goals for Dortmund and netted one of his own, while Goetze scored twice.

The win came at a price, however, as defender Neven Subotic is expected to miss the next six weeks, including Champions League games against Arsenal and Marseille, with a facial fracture which required surgery.

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Werder Bremen went third, and joined Dortmund and ‘Gladbach on 23 points, when they came back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 against ten-man Cologne thanks to a second-half hat-trick from Peru’s Claudio Pizarro.

Moenchengladbach moved up to fourth after their come-back win at Hertha Berlin as Bayern target Marco Reus scored both their goals in a 2-1 win.

Bayer Leverkusen threw away a 2-0 lead at home as strugglers Hamburg roared back with goals from ex-Germany players Marcell Jansen and Heiko Westermann to leave their side 16th in the league.

Hosts Nuremberg lost 2-1 at home to Freiburg as Senegal striker Papiss Ciss converted a penalty with the last kick of the game for the visitors which moves them to up third from bottom as mid-table Hoffenheim drew 1-1 with Kaiserslautern.

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