LONDON: Premier League sides Newcastle, Everton and Fulham strolled into the League Cup third round with convincing wins over lower league opponents on Wednesday. Newcastle, fresh from their 6-0 demolition of Aston Villa on Sunday, eased to a 3-2 win over Accrington Stanley, while Everton defeated Huddersfield 5-1 to claim their first victory of the season. Mark Hughes' Fulham romped to a 6-0 win against League Two Port Vale. Newcastle boss Chris Hughton rested the entire t
Striker's hat-trick seals Young Boys' fate as Tottenham qualify for Champions League
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| Peter Crouch celebrates one of his three goals during Tottenham Hotspur's 4-0 win in the Champions League qualifying play-off against Young Boys in London yesterday. PICS/AFP, GETTY IMAGES |
Gareth Bale continued his fine start to the new season by creating all four goals for a rampant home side, who produced an impressive display to book their place in Thursday's main draw with the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid and defending champions Inter.
Defoe started for Tottenham despite having a groin injury that will shortly require surgery. Crouch partnered him in attack, while Ledley King returned to the defence. Playmaker Luka Modric was missing with a groin problem.
With Argentinian defender Emiliano Dudar still injured, Young Boys coach Vladimir Petkovic stuck with an unchanged starting XI from the 3-2 first leg victory in Switzerland.
While Spurs had suffered a miserable start during that game, they enjoyed a tremendous opening this time around and moved ahead within five minutes.
After the visitors failed to clear a corner, Bale cut inside from the right to float a dangerous cross into the box and Peter Crouch was free at the back post to plant a header into the far corner.
A Bale free-kick was only half cleared on 20 minutes, allowing Benoit Assou-Ekotto to strike a fierce long-range piledriver which resulted in a spell of treatment being required for Ammar Jemal ufffd the Young Boys defender unfortunate enough to get in the way.
Another effort from the Cameroon defender failed to find the target six minutes later, while Thierry Doubai blazed a speculative effort of his own over the crossbar at the other end.
The home side scored a controversial second goal in the 32nd minute through Defoe.
There were strong suspicions of handball as the England striker controlled Bale's looping through ball, but as the visiting defence briefly hesitated, Defoe made no mistake with an excellent left-footed finish inside Marco Wolfli's near post.
Other results
Ajax 2 Dynamo Kyiv 1
Auxerre 2 Zenit St Petersburg 2
Copenhagen 1 Rosenborg 0
Zilina 1 Sparta Prague 0
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