Spurs break their duck as Maddison leads the charge against Coventry
Premier League
Tottenham Hotspur (1) 3 Maddison 14, Marmoush 58, Davies 90+6
Coventry City (0) 1 Rudoni 58
It felt like a case of: If not now, then when?
After a troubling start to the season - very much in keeping with those successive 17th place finishes - Spurs have finally won a game. It's taken them seven games to do it.
James Maddison's marked his first start in 18 months with the opener and Omar Marmoush grabbed his first goal in Tottenham colours to set up Spurs for the win they so badly needed after Coventry had equalised at the start of the second half. Ben Davies came on to finally take the game out of the visitors' reach in injury time.
Frank Lampard's newly-promoted Coventry City arrived buoyed by a fine 4-1 win against Newcastle last week, while Spurs had the embarrassment of seeing their name propping up the whole division after the weekend games.
Things had to get better.
The Sky Blues - in a blackcurrant pink kit - started brightly. Very much in front-foot mode. But Maddison got Spurs up and running with a lovely first-time finish, caressing the ball above and beyond keeper Carl Rushworth after Mo Kudus had got the better of Jay Dasilva on the edge of the penalty area before laying the ball back to the lurking midfielder.
For Maddison, it was a sweet moment against one of his former clubs and a perfect way to mark his return to the starting line up. He makes Spurs tick and the fans love him. He received a rousing send-off when he was subbed off midway through the second half.
In keeping with the theme of returning stars, the mere sight of Dejan Kulusevski warming up on the sidelines was enough to stir understandably happy emotions for Spurs fans. Even more so when he came on five minutes from time.
The Swede missed all of last season with knee issues and had been absent for 500 days. There was talk that he may have to retire at the age of 26. The winger was often Tottenham's standout player a couple of seasons ago and he has been sorely missed.
As he prepared to take to the pitch, the fans aired that famous chant about not caring about Levy...only Kulusevski. The cheers for his first touch were huge.
Coventry were briefly hanging on after the first goal but regained their equilibrium enough to remind Spurs they were still in the contest when Brandon Thomas-Asante bore down on goal from the left and it need one of those scything Micky van de Ven blocks to quell the danger.
That warning was shown to be far from hollow as Jack Rudoni levelled it up at the start of the second half - a triumph for the former Wimbledon midfielder's persistence.
He created the opening with a burst in from the left flank after a mistake from Jan Paul van Hecke and then regathered the ball off Thomas-Asante before bundling home from close range.
Fortunately for the hosts, the feeling of deflation did not last too long with Spurs back in front within 10 minutes. Marmoush wrestled the ball from Milan van Ewijk just outside the area and then flashed a shot across the keeper into the far corner. A hand into the face of the Coventry defender was deemed not to be enough to have the goal chalked off.
Roberto de Zerbi badly needed to see his team game-manage the last 15 minutes without mishap - along with eight minutes of injury time. But this they just about did - albeit with that familiar nervy retreat to the 18-yard box for most of the last knockings.
They were grateful that they were able to relax at the very end of it all when City keeper Rushworth made a hash of a stabbed effort from sub Davies which somehow crept under him. The outpouring of relief was palpable.
Spurs: (3-4-2-1) Kinsky - Tosin (Fernandes 70), van Hecke, van de Ven - Gray, Tonali, Maddison, Robertson (Davies 69) (Gallagher 69) - Kudus (Kulusevski 87), Marmoush (Tel 87) - Solanke
Sky Blues: (4-2-3-1) Rushworth - van Ewijk, Thomas, Pinnock, Dasilva - Yirenkyi (Onyeka 60), Grimes - Thomas-Asante (Mason-Clark 79), Rudoni (Kesler-Hayden 87), Sakamoto (Hamer 79) - Cherif (Awoniyi 60)
Attendance: 60,913
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