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Pre-season Friendlies

Jul 16, 2013 at 7pm UK

Swindon Swindon Town
1-1
Spurs Tottenham Hotspur

Williams (76')

FT(HT: 0-1)

Bale (15')

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Football

Tottenham Hotspur held at Swindon Town

By Robert Summerscales, Reporter | 16 July 2013

A strike from Gareth Bale is not enough to see Tottenham Hotspur beat Swindon Town, as the two sides play out a 1-1 draw in a pre-season friendly.

A strike from Gareth Bale was not enough to see Tottenham Hotspur beat Swindon Town in Tuesday's pre-season friendly.

The Premier League side were forced to settle for a draw against their League One opponents, following Andy Williams's deflected second-half equaliser at the County Ground.

Bale collected a neat through pass from Gylfi Sigurdsson and fired the ball into the top corner from 18 yards to give Spurs the lead on 15 minutes.

The PFA Player of the Year, who found the net 26 times for his club last season, had earlier come close to opening the scoring in the second minute, but he was denied by goalkeeper Wes Foderingham.

Tottenham, who named a strong starting XI, went close again from the resultant corner, as Jermain Defoe's flicked effort struck the crossbar.

Following Bale's outstanding opener, Swindon almost hit back immediately, but Hugo Lloris produced an important block to thwart Louis Thompson, who had broken clear.

The second half was preceded by a deluge of substitutions, which led to a disjointed and unattractive 45 minutes.

Spurs continued to dominate possession, but their defence was undone by a quick, and somewhat fortunate, counter-attack with 15 minutes remaining.

Williams found space 25 yards from goal and unleashed a powerful shot, which deflected off Steven Caulker and looped beyond the reach of Brad Friedel.