Close your eyes. Imagine you are watching Spurs play. The score is tied. Spurs are in need of one strong wave to secure all three points from the match. The seconds tick away as the fourth official approaches the touchline. He holds up his board. The Spurs’ supporters end erupts as the red numbers flash. There is still time for late drama.
Open your eyes. What comes next? What match immediately comes to mind from the above scenario? Quite a few right?
For whatever reason, Spurs have a knack for late winners and some improbable results. Names like Gareth Bale, Lucas Moura, Steven Bergwijn, and Paul Stalteri come to mind when you ask fans about late winners. With the world currently on international break, I thought to myself, what better time than to do a countdown of my top ten favorite Spurs winners. Notice, I said “my favorite.” There are a few late winners that I believe are undervalued. There are a few winners that are universally beloved by Spurs fans across the world. So let’s take a trip down memory lane as we look at my favorite editions of late drama in North London.
Honorable Mention
Here are a few of my favorites that just miss the cut…
11/1/2022 – Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg v Marseille (Champions League Group Stage)
I really think this goal is unheralded because of Spurs’ failure to make it past the round of 16, but this goal was huge because of the impact it had on the group. At any given point on the final matchday of the group phase, Spurs and every member of their group (Eintracht Frankfurt, Marseille, and Sporting Portugal) found themselves atop the group. This is where we arrive as Ben Davies’ clearance calmly found Harry Kane who turned for a late push. That is where he spotted everyone’s favorite Viking running unimpeded down the pitch. It was academic at that point as Kane delivered a pinpoint pass to Hojbjerg and the Denmark international found the back of the net with a blistering shot from just outside the box.
2/16/2020 – Son Heung-min v Aston Villa
Just as the world was nearing an unpredictable shutdown, Spurs found themselves in desperate times as they were tied with Aston Villa in what felt like a must-win at Villa Park. A failed clearance by the Villa defender set the stage as Son Heung-min attacked the loose ball and sped past Tyrone Mings to give Spurs an improbable win against the Villians.
1/1/2022 – Davinson Sanchez v Watford
I feel like this was the marquee moment for Davinson Sanchez during his tenure in North London. While the defender was much accustomed to keeping the ball out of the Tottenham net, he found his shinning moment in lilywhite with this critical header at Vicarage Road. This goal always stands out to me because of how critical this result ended up being for Antonio Conte’s squad in the improbable run to Champions League qualification.
9/17/2020 – Tanguy Ndombele v Lokomotiv Plovdiv (UEFA Conference League Qualifying Round)
There is no reason Spurs should have been in this moment. A trip to Bulgaria should have been nothing more than a walk through, but this is Spurs we are talking about. Enter much maligned Tanguy Ndombele. If there ever was a moment where Spurs’ recording signing was going to turn up, it was in this match. While this match is not one to write home about, I will forever remember watching the grainy footage on my lunch break followed by a graceful jump kick that knocked over one of my desks in jubilation celebrating the Frenchman’s goal. It’s also fitting that the video below is the best one I have found of this moment.
4/5/2017 – Son Heung-min v Swansea City
And now for one of the moments that introduced me to Spurs’ knack for late drama. In this deep cut, Spurs trailed the Welsh-side 1-0 in the 87th minute, but the scoreline would look much different over the next ten minutes. A Dele Alli equalizer in the 88th minute gave the club, and it was the ascending South Korean who rescued the match as he took Vincent Jansen’s (bet you did not think you would hear that name today) slick back heel pass and torched a shot through the Swansea keeper’s five-hole in the first minute of stoppage. Spurs would lock in the result just moments later as Christian Eriksen gave the away end another reason to cheer and close the book a 3-1 Spurs victory. This match is also special because April 5th is my foster baby’s birthday, so this one goes out to my little man.
Now let’s move into our top ten…
#10 – 7/21/2019 – Harry Kane v Juventus (International Champions Cup)
We will start off our list with the late winner that wasn’t, but everyone totally saw it. I went back and forth about including this one on the list, but it is simply too good to leave off. One of the difficult parts about being a Premier League fan in the United States is the time difference. Bowling Green, KY (my hometown) is six hours behind London, England. Those lunchtime kickoffs are exceptionally early after a long night of high school athletics, but when Spurs play at 6:30 AM, I am up and ready. This match was especially difficult because it was played in Singapore as a part of the International Champions Cup, a worldwide preseason tournament. That thirteen hour time difference was rough, but I was up at 4:30 to catch kickoff. Thankfully, we were all rewarded with this gem.
I was particularly excited about this match because I was excited to see the summer signings of Tanguy Ndombele and Giovanni Lo Celso in action for the first time. While the new faces got me up at 4:30, it was a familiar face that made us all surrender cobra as Harry Kane picked up a ball at the halfway line and launched an absolute laser past the Juventus keeper who was off his line. It was a stunning strike that even took the top spot on ESPN’s top plays of the day. While it may not count in the record books, the quality and degree of difficulty make it a worthy edition to my personal top ten list.
#9 – 1/29/2017 – Son Heung-min v Wycombe Wanderers (FA Cup 4th Round)
My first real introduction to Spurs’ knack for late drama was this FA Cup match from my first season watching Spurs. I may have had little knowledge of what the FA Cup was at the time, and even less knowledge of Spurs’ opponent on the afternoon, but the result was still exhilarating nonetheless.
This almost feels like a forgotten game from the 2016-17 season that was so magical for all of us. There was the deep run in the FA Cup, the strong performance in the league, the emergence of Sonny and Dele, the continue strong play of Harry Kane, peak Pochettino, the closing of White Hart Lane. It really was a magical season. This added to the magic as Spurs found themselves deadlocked with League One-side Wycombe in the final moments and down to ten men as an injury forced them to play with the disadvantage. That did not stop the squad from putting this moment of brilliance together and sending Spurs supporters’ home with another thrilling finish from White Hart Lane. Definitely a hidden gem.
#8 – 3/4/2007 – Paul Stalteri v West Ham
While this may have happened a full decade before I ever knew Tottenham Hotspur even existed, this goal is pure class. As many of you all know, I love a rivalry, and the London Derby between Spurs and West Ham is always an intense match, even if we all know Spurs are miles ahead of the Spammers.
The reasons I love this goal make no sense. I love that Paul Stalteri is a Canadian. How many famous Canadian footballers can you name not named Alphonso Davies and Junior Hoilett? As a hockey fan, I love my Canadians. This goal is also great because of the commentary. The reaction to the West Ham keeper not corralling the save is simple and pure, “OHHHH NOOOOO!” As someone who has grown up listening to the voices like Ken Daniels, Pete Weber, Marty Brenaman, John Sadak, Randy Lee, Jim Ross, and Gary Thorne, there is an art in simplistic commentary. Call it like you see it, and we will all see it. That reaction tells you, something just happened! That something was a thrilling finish and another great moment of late drama for the North London side.
#7 – 12/15/2019 – Jan Vertonghen v Wolves
Be honest, we all still miss Super Jan. His tenure at the club was nothing short of amazing, and while this may not be my most favorite of his goals (that title goes to his goal against Dortmund at Wembley), there is so much to love about this moment.
Spurs probably did not deserve to win this match, but the breakdown of this goal shows the key to its success lies within the art of deception. Harry Kane draws so much attention on this set piece that Wolves completely leave Jan unencumbered just inside the eight-yard box. Three defenders follow Kane as he attempts to get free, which leaves the veteran with all the time and space to redirect the header past the keeper. It may not be quite on the level of a Jamie Tart-sell job from Richmond’s final match against West Ham, but it is definitely effective. Also, Jan Vertonghen’s “Super Jan” goal celebration has to go down as one of the best celebrations in the sport. It is timeless, and the slide that follows is smooth as the finest bourbon in the Commonwealth of Kentucky
#6 10/29/2022 – Rodrigo Bentancur v AFC Bournemouth
I’d like to conclude my picks for 6, 7, and 8 on this list by titling this portion: unlikely heroes. We as fans expect winners to come from the likes of Sonny, Kane, Eriksen, Bale, Jermaine Defoe, and company. The marquee forward who is always going to be towards the top of the league when it comes to goals. It is the ones like this that always find a way to stick with me.
Rodrigo Bentancur has been nothing but class since the club signed him in January of 2022. It may be cliche, but he indeed was the reason we played on Wednesdays in the 2022-23 season. In spite of his reasoning, Hot Rod is not someone most fans immediately think of when we say “goal scorer,” but the Uruguayan midfielder has known to turn up when needed… and on that day a hero was needed against an unlikely adversary in Bournemouth. The finish was also a thing of beauty as Bents was able to lift the volley into the top corner from close range.
#5 – 12/15/2018 – Christian Eriksen v Burnley
I feel like it is cheating to include so many moments from 2018-19. There were a lot of late heroics that season, but this is one of the ones that stands out to me the most. One reason was this was the Premier League debut of the one and only Oliver Skipp. I love inserting little tidbits like that into these moments. It makes them seem more special for whatever reason.
The other reason was the company I was with for this match. Living in southern Kentucky, I am pretty much an island when it comes to watching Spurs games. My wife will watch an occasional match with me, I was able to share as many Spurs matches with our first foster baby for the chunk of two seasons he lived with us, and my buddy Jacob has joined me in the ranks of Spurs supporters (shout out to my man!), but most matches are a solo affair for me. This date was different as I took the hour drive down to Nashville to watch the game with the crew from Nashville Spurs. If you are in the Music City, check them out. They are a fun group. The game itself may have been dull, but the joy of jumping up and celebrating Eriksen’s winner was just too much fun. So being a part of the group shoots this goal up my list.
#4 – 2/19/2022 – Harry Kane v Manchester City
We had a goal from Harry Kane that kind of did not exist at #10, so let’s talk about a goal that DEFINITELY counted here at #4…
In my humble opinion, this may have been Harry Kane’s finest match in a Spurs shirt. The context, the timing, the ebbs and flows of the game, the setting, the opponent. It all just adds up for the club’s all-time leading goal scorer. If you are not familiar with the Harry Kane saga from the 2021-22 season, you should stop now and go refresh yourself. It will make you appreciate this moment even more.
Beating a top club is always special. Every win over the likes of Liverpool, City, United, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, AC Milan, etc. always carries extra weight. This moment definitely did a lot of heavy lifting for Antonio Conte’s club in 2022. The cross, the leap, the finish, the eruption. I am getting chills just thinking about it…
#3 – 1/20/2019 – Harry Winks v Fulham
So remember how I talked about unlikely heroes? This one features two of them.
This game gets a little lost in the shuffle from in the club’s run to the Champions League final, but the closing moments are worth the watch. It’s crazy to think that Fulham actually never scored a goal in this game, but found themselves up 1-0 at the half thanks to an errant clearance from Fernando Llorente (but we do not shame the name of Big Sexy on this site). Even with Dele Alli’s equalizer in the second half, Spurs seemed destined to suffer another lackluster result after the club suffered a heart-breaking 1-0 loss the week before thanks to the heroic efforts of Manchester United’s David De Gea. This is where our two unlikely heroes enter the story.
If you opened this article and knew you would read the names of GK Nkoudou and Harry Winks, I am here to call you a big fat liar. It was these two that linked up to produce a moment of quality that I will remember forever. Having come on late in the game as a sub, Nkoudou sent a beautiful cross into the middle of the box to set up this magical moment (funny enough, this would go down as Nkoudou’s final magical moment with the club as his appearances from that point were virtually non-existent). As the Fulham defenders just sat back and watched the ball, Harry Winks hurled himself into the box and headed home the winner to send Spurs home with all three points and a reminder that he only scores bangers!
#2 – 1/19/2022 – Steven Bergwijn v Leicester City
Twos are wild for this epic finish. In all honesty, I did have a small back and forth about whether or not it will be number one. In any other list, this would have been #1 by a wide margin.
This goal has had so many things said about it in the nearly 30 months since that epic night in Leicester, so I am not going to expound to much on the moment, but what a moment. I personally think that Steven Bergwijn’s tenure with the club might have been the victim of too much hype. Not too much hype as in he was not as good as we thought he was, but too much hype as in his first performances were so good that the fans’ expectations from then on were over the top. That being said, nobody would have expected him create a moment like this. It was a moment of Stevie B FC at its absolute FINEST.
and now, the moment you have all been waiting for… surprise, surprise…
#1 – 5/8/2019 – Lucas Moura v Ajax (Champions League Semifinal 2nd Leg)
I mean… did you expect anything else? When you say stoppage time winners, this is almost always the first match that comes to mind.
The moment is burned into my brain: the commentary, the deafening silence followed by the roar of the away supporters, Pochetino face down on the field in tears, Lucas Moura floating in the air as he celebrates his hat trick, Hugo Lloris sprinting up the field to celebrate with the team, that SWEET navy and green kit that is SO sick. I can close my eyes and follow the play from Sissoko’s long ball to Lucas’s shot that seemed to just roll past the Ajax keeper. It ranks up their for me in my other top sports memories: Michigan winning the College Football Playoff this season, watching the Detroit Redwings win the Stanley Cup in 2002 and 2008, being on the court with my students after our school won the Kentucky High School state basketball championship in 2023. If it ranks up there with those moments, it has to take the top spot on this list.
Thanks for reading. If you’d like to follow me on Twitter, you can do so by clicking here. Let me know your thoughts in the comments. You can also follow White Hart Live on Twitter here. Be sure to follow along as we bring you all things Tottenham Hotspur. My hope is to connect with Spurs’ supporters all over the globe through our love of this great club. COME ON YOU SPURS!
-Dustin Gentile
White Hart Live 
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