Tottenham Fans Support For Danny Rose At Stoke – Like Never Before!

Danny Rose scored the only goal of the game in Tottenham’s win at Stoke. He received the full support of the Spurs fans when abused by the home fans after their team was reduced to 10-men early in the second half.

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Danny Rose had the full support of the Tottenham fans at Stoke when the home supporters started to abuse him following the dismissal of Ryan Shawcross early in the second half. Rose probably hasn’t experienced such backing , since, perhaps, the reaction inside White Hart Lane when he scored his first Tottenham goal against Arsenal in 2010. It was Rose’s first Premier League start and his exquisite volley from outside the penalty area after 10 minutes set Spurs on their way to a precious win over their north London rivals with the three points vital as Spurs mounted a late and successful challenge for a top-4 and Champions League place. It was also Spurs first win over Arsenal since 1999.

Against Stoke Rose had headed Spurs into the lead in the 33rd minute when he met a cross by Emmanuel Adebayor and gave Begovic no chance. That was enough to upset the home fans who had enjoyed four successive home wins and suffered only two defeats at the Britannia Stadium this season.

Matters got worse, however, when Shawcross caught Rose with a late challenge and received a second yellow card. Reminded by the Tottenham players that it was a second booking, the referee sent off the Stoke defender. This was the trigger for the constant abuse against Rose. The atmosphere inside the stadium reached fever-pitch and the Stoke team responded to the backing from their fans. Spurs were rattled and from a position of control were in danger of going under.

Danny Rose [Photo: Jav The_DoC_66]Because of his involvement in the sending off, Rose was jeered every time he touched the ball and the pressure was clearly getting to him. Spurred on by the crowd, the Stoke players were following through in tackles and when their full-back, Cameron, caught Rose in a late challenge as the Spurs defender cleared the ball, Rose reacted. He walked purposefully towards the Stoke player and pushed him with both hands. The fans bayed for blood and a sending off to level it at 10 v 10. The referee, to the annoyance of Mark Hughes, booked Rose but the fans weren’t satisfied.

It was clear that Rose was walking a very thin line and was in danger of getting himself sent off. To his annoyance, Rose was substituted by Tim Sherwood to defuse the heated situation.

Through all of this Rose was backed by the visiting supporters, not something that happens to the young defender everyday as he is frequently criticised by the Tottenham fans who regard him as a weak link in the team.

Tim Sherwood on Rose

The comments of the Spurs manager were posted on Twitter by @HotspurRelated. Tim Sherwood realised that Rose was under intense pressure on the pitch and said,

"My heart was in my mouth. He’s the match-winner for us today. I thought he was performing really well and I didn’t really want to bring him off but I had to defuse the situation. I’ve never heard crowd so hyped up. I thought I had to get him off, send him to dressing room, out of sight, out of mind."

Sherwood acknowledged that it was all part of a learning process for the defender, saying,

"He’s still young, learning his trade. We’re smiling because we haven’t been reduced to 10 men and he can learn from it."

Danny Rose who was frustrated at being taken off, spoke to SpursTV about the incident, saying,

"I got battered here with Sunderland last year but it didn’t really phase me. I had a few seconds where I lost my head a little bit and the manager brought me off, quite rightly so."

On his goal, Danny said,

"It was nice to score with a header, very rare!"

Stoke fans bitter to the end!