CCFC 0 v 1 TOTTENHAM

We don't get the opportunity to play Spurs very often and I passed up the chance to see them back in 2007 on a stinking rain-sodden Saturday in January. It was the 3rd round of the FA Cup on the 30th anniversary of a famous victory.

On that momentous day in 1977 a Spurs side that included the legendary Pat Jennings in goal (big hands, even bigger hair) a young Glen Hoddle controlling their midfield with an unruffled mulleted bouffant nonchalance and featuring legendary comic book comb-over king Ralph Coates charging down their left wing leaving a trail of dandruff and brylcreem-lashed defenders in his wake, were beaten by a Peter Sayer goal, as beguiling in its execution as it was unlikely - a gem which for a couple of weeks was given a lead role in the Match of the Day opening titles.

27,000 witnessed the events that day. Before the year was out relegated Spurs would be back at Ninian Park to play out a 0-0 Divison Two bore-draw in front of barely 8,000 fans.

The FA Cup victory was made all the sweeter by the fact that the winner was provided by local boy Sayer, the product of a scouting system that until the Academy was established regularly allowed the best local talent to be poached by other clubs. And those that we did manage to catch inevitably took the bait when the big boys came fishing.

Of course there's no greater indictment of the failure to spot emerging local talent than allowing young Gareth Bale to be whisked away from the Cardiff Civil Service under-10's by Southampton. You might have thought that his Uncle Chris (Pike) might have said something! Surely it couldn't have been too difficult to persuade Frank to put him the number 23 into town instead of driving him to the south coast every weekend.

As it is, the £85 million that we might have trousered for the sale of the Whitchurch Wunderkind has funded a revitalised Tottenham team that looks capable of mounting a serious challenge this season as they strive to reclaim past glories. I wouldn't normally quote Gary Lineker but he may have got it right when he said that his beloved Spurs had 'Sold Elvis and bought The Beatles'.

We walked up to the ground in the unsolicited company of a Norwegian Spurs fan who'd clearly spent the day acquainting himself with Mr Brains' finest. In a Scandanavian slur he was keen to tell us that on his 5th birthday his uncle gave him a birthday card signed by Erik Thorstvedt the Norwegian and Spurs goalie. 'And I've-a-been a Totten-a-ham fan ever since. Smorgasbooooord. Morten Harket.'

We pointed Erik (whose intoxicated gush about the quality of his team was in danger of making us late) in the direction of the (seriously) away fans and reached our seats just in time. Bloody Vikings!

As it turned out Erik and Lineker weren't far off the mark. It was apparent from the start that Spurs were the best footballing team to visit the CCS so far. They attacked at pace and with a flair and panache that will see them challenge for a top four finish this season.

But what the opposition had in elegance and natural ability we matched in commitment and tenacity and might be considered unlucky not to come away with a point. Certainly the game's two pivotal moments went against us. After 6 minutes Campbell took the ball on the edge of the penalty area only to have it stolen by the despairing hand of keeper Lloris. Outside the box. The incident saw a trademark Malky dash down the tunnel to check the video replay and return incandescent with a rage to match the very worst of Mr Tan's sartorial indiscretions and mercilessly berate the fourth official. If you've seen the TV highlights you'll understand why.

Referee Clattenburg has form. In Feb 2007, he was sent down to the Championship and placed in charge of our game against Leeds. He had an absolute stinker, getting all the main decisions wrong and sending off Chopra and Simon Walton (whatever happened to him?) I might have been sympathetic to another official but this incident and Turner's disallowed goal just before half time made it personal.

Tactically the game was similar to the Man City and Everton games. Malky's strategy is clearly one of containment against the top sides with the two banks of four across the back closing down the man with the ball and denying space and time to the opposition in the box. When Spurs did have opportunities they found Marshall on top form, producing a number of world class saves.

The match stats might suggest almost total domination in terms of territory, possession and opportunities for the opposition but many of their attempts were speculative and as the game wore on were borne of frustration.

In fact we had opportunities to take the lead particularly in the second half as Whittingham and Bellamy fed dangerous low crosses into the box just beyond Campbell who was replaced by Odemwingie just after the hour. The former Baggie making his debut provided a fresh impetus, finding space in the box and curling one just past the far post, then finding Gunnarsson with a perfect pull back only to see the Iceman lose his cool and fire over the bar from 7 yards.

Spurs introduced £30 million man Erik Lamela with 20 minutes to go. With that sort of quality in reserve you feared the worst but it was the City who finished the stronger with Kim in particular continuing to panic their back four into conceding possession and dispatching inelegant clearances into Row Z.

A hard fought draw seemed the likely and highly creditable outcome as the Fourth Official held up his board. Then with two of the four minutes played, Lamela pulled back a cross just behind Paulinho, the Brazilian back-heeling past Marshall to finally break the deadlock.

The soporific Spurs fans looked over their half-moon specs and dropped their library books in surprise as they rose to acknowledge their victory. The Canton End had tried all afternoon to provoke the detached indifferent north Londoners with classics like 'You're just a bus stop in Arsenal' etc. to no avail. The Premier League's most dispassionate unassuming fans would surely approve of Peter Whitingham's understated description of this cruel defeat as 'annoying'.

As annoying as it certainly was, the game also produced a number of positives. Medal, Caulker and Kim continue to excel at this level and the introduction of Odemwingie emphasised our relative strength in depth. Malky the pragmatist has built a squad capable of deploying the tactics required to compete against the very best. With a couple of games coming up against less fancied opposition it will be interesting to see if we're capable of changing the emphasis from containment to utilising our undoubted pool of talent in a more expansive game. Taking 4 points from Man City, Everton & Spurs is just about acceptable; 4 points from Fulham, Newcastle & Norwich would hint at a long season ahead.

CCFC 0 V 0 EVERTON

It's been a great week up here on Cloud Nine looking down at pundits, colleagues, mates and Jacks green about the gills after being force-fed huge slabs of humble pie.

'Cardiff were absolutely remarkable. Their first half work-rate was inhuman.' The Telegraph

'I never thought I'd see the day when Cardiff City would beat Manchester City 3-2 in the Premier League. Certainly not this season. To be honest, I never thought Frazier Campbell would make my team of the week either. I think I owe both an apology.' Garth Crooks

'Hueeeeey'  Cyril The Swan

When the fixtures came out in June I spent a ridiculous amount of time that should have been spent on more constructive thought worrying about where the hell we were going to pick up 40 points. After Sunday's epic I've rediscovered a sublime state of naive blind optimism not experienced for 40 years; from the time when 'Davies was better than Yashin' and Toshack & Clarke were Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid. It's like the intervening 40 years of (mostly) hurt never happened.

The CCS is suddenly infused with a belief that we can compete against the very best. The atmosphere today was again electric - another sell out, record breaking crowd providing the extra edge and conviction clearly reflected in the performance on the pitch.

We started brightly, again showing no signs of being intimidated by stellar opposition. We know what to expect from a Martinez team but for all their possession, decoy runs and tactical nous they were rarely able to out-think or out-muscle a tight, well-organised back four and solid midfield. Only three games in and the influence of Caulker and Medel is very apparent.

The Chilean came with a reputation as an aggressive, ill-disciplined midfield enforcer. On the evidence of the first couple of games he's much more than the moniker 'El Pitbull' might suggest - what Malky has bought is a solid, dependable, intelligent footballer who can play the holding role but can also get forward and create. In short, he's unearthed a real gem. A City legend is born.

The first 30 minutes were pretty even. We comfortably snuffed out any threat and had plenty of play ourselves. A Whittingham corner found Tim Howard flapping inside the 6 yard box at one point and Campbell had opportunities to capitalise on some intricate work around the box but too often his first touch was found wanting or he was brushed aside by the man mountain Sylvain Distin.

Everton began to take control towards half-time and we were fortunate not to concede a penalty when Baines was taken out of his stride by a Medel challenge. Twice City gave away possession on the edge of the box, Connolly and Kimbo the guilty parties. That we survived was due to Marshall's heroics, saving from Jelovic's close range header with an athletic sinew-mangling last second adjustment, and the linesman's flag.

Surprisingly for a man who last scored when Roberto Martinez was still serving tapas in the back streets of Barcelona, Jelovic was playing as a lone striker with the much-touted Fellaini anonymous, playing just ahead of a midfield controlled by 19 year old Ross Barkley who on this form will soon be given the opportunity to join the ranks of the pathologically mediocre with a full England debut.

So 0-0 at half time, and an appreciative and knowledgeable crowd rose to applaud another solid effort. To catch our attention before attempting to sell us stuff, the two mega-screens displayed the half-time scores from around the country confirming a definite paucity of Premiership goals as teams vied for the MOTD graveyard slot.

As far as I'm concerned the CCS with its new, distracting relentlessly flashing disorientating Orient-centric advertising could do with a digital detox. The hard sell at Ninian Park consisted of the fading image of Captain Morgan looking down at us from Canton End imploring us to buy his rum. Parochial advertising surely peaked with Ton Tan's insistence that there's 'no need to go to town to get brown' a top tag-line only equalled by 'players run faster on Giovanni's pasta'. What a shame that these home grown products have been denied the opportunity to be given access to the vast Asian market.

The second half pretty much followed the pattern of the first with a dominant opposition midfield frustrated by a cohesive and determined City defence which closed any gaps and out-muscled and out-thought a blunt and unimaginative Everton attack. Bill Shankly, whose 100th birthday will be celebrated on the red side of the Scouseville later today once famously said of Everton that 'if they were playing at the bottom of my garden I'd pull the curtains'. That would be an unfair jibe to direct at today's Toffees but early season form and activity in the transfer market suggests that Liverpool will comfortably retain the bragging rights this season.

City contributed to a fairly even half in terms of attacking opportunities and broke well with Kimbo a constant threat, if occasionally guilty of over-complicating matters. Neither he or Bellers were able to provide the incisive ball through to Campbell who was struggling to shake off the attentions of Distin. Shortly after he was flattened by Fellani (provoking the Canton End into a rousing 'You're getting sold in the morning') Bellamy was given the opportunity to turn the game in our favour after being put through by Kimbo but his heavy first touch took him too wide of Howard with the goal at his mercy.

Everton made a couple of substitutions, replacing the ineffective Jelovic with Martinez favourite, former Wigan front man Kone who looked a far more potent force. We were looking tired and jaded and it was surprising that Malky didn't call for reinforcements until the 80th minute. Bellamy was replaced by Cowie and the clearly exhausted Medel who now faces a crazy 15000 mile excursion to Central America and Spain on Chilean international duty before rejoining the Bluebirds for the trip to Hull was relieved of his duties as the clock ticked down.

Despite a couple of late scares and helped by Manchester-bound Leighton Baines deciding to keep his powder dry when given the opportunity to punish us from 25 yards we saw out the remaining seconds and the 27,344 crowd rose as one to hail another gutsy performance. A four point return before heading into the international break is as much as we might have hoped for. The manner in which we've achieved them is probably beyond our wildest imaginings. Next up big spending Spurs, shorn of Whitchurch's finest, assumming Gareth has baled out by then... Bring 'em on!