beşiktaş' ba leaves it late to deny tottenham published: thursday 2 october 2014, 22.58cet tottenham hotspur fc 1-1 beşiktaş jk harry kane's thumping 27th-minute finish appeared enough until demba ba's 89th-minute penalty levelled.
by mark pettit from white hart lane
• harry kane hammers in the opening goal after 27 minutes • demba ba converts late penalty to earn beşiktaş a point • hugo lloris makes a string of outstanding saves for tottenham • spurs and beşiktaş both have two points in group c • next games: tottenham v asteras, partizan v beşiktaş (23 october)
demba ba's 89th-minute penalty denied tottenham hotspur fc their first group c victory as beşiktaş jk claimed a 1-1 draw at white hart lane.
slaven bilić's men looked threatening in attack and comfortable at the back until kane took aim from distance and rifled in the opening goal in the 27th minute at white hart lane. the visitors created the better openings thereafter and were finally rewarded when ba converted from the spot to leave both sides on two points in the section.
beşiktaş made the running in the early stages and went close twice in the opening 15 minutes. olcay şahan profited from some hesitant spurs defending but placed his effort wide with just hugo lloris to beat before the tottenham no1's slight touch deflected ba's fierce drive onto the bar.
tottenham had to wait nearly half an hour for their first effort of any description, and it was a flowing move that produced the opening goal. nabil bentaleb's adroit turn created space and the midfielder fed kane 25 metres out, with the spurs striker advancing before drilling a low effort across tolga zengin.
olcay nearly levelled when he turned josé sosa's cross back across goal but lloris somehow thrust out a boot to divert the ball past the far post, while kane stung zengin's palms in response as the first half closed with a flourish.
both sides continued to prosper at a higher tempo after the interval, andros townsend bending wide from the edge of the area for the hosts before lloris pulled off another sensational save to deny the luckless olcay.
bentaleb whistled another attempt wide after a purposeful foray from roberto soldado while olcay's sublime acrobatic volley left lloris standing, only to evade the far post. kane should have added a second for the hosts before the unbeatable lloris performed further heroics to deny ba from point-blank range.
the tottenham goalkeeper could not prevent the equaliser, however, ba sending him the wrong way from the penalty spot after vlad chiricheş' handballed under pressure from the impressive striker.
