Tottenham on brink of knockout stage

LONDON. Tottenham Hotspur closed in on a place in the Europa League knockout stages with a 2-0 win away to Moldovan champions Sheriff Tiraspol on Thursday.

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Europa LeagueSwansea City    1 – 1    Kuban Valencia CF    5 – 1    St. GallenDinamo Zagreb    0 – 0    PSVIF Elfsborg    1 – 2    Esbjerg fBWigan     1 – 1    Rubin KazanFiorentina    3 – 0    Pandurii Bordeaux    2 – 1    APOEL NicosiaFrankfurt    2 – 0    Maccabi Tel AvivDynamo Kiev    3 – 0    FC ThunSlovan Liberec    1 – 1    Sevilla FCLyon    1 – 0    NK RijekaReal Betis    1 – 0    Vitória GuimarãesLimasso    0 – 0    LazioLONDON. Tottenham Hotspur closed in on a place in the Europa League knockout stages with a 2-0 win away to Moldovan champions Sheriff Tiraspol on Thursday.It was a hard-earned win for Andre Villas-Boas’ side, with Sheriff applying plenty of pressure, but ultimately the Premier League team’s class shone through.Villas-Boas made wholesale changes to the team that had beaten Aston Villa in the Premier League on Sunday but the visitors needed just 12 minutes to open the scoring.On their first attack, captain for the night Jan Vertonghen headed home Christian Eriksen’s cross to settle Tottenham down in the tricky tie in Transnistria, a territory that claims independence from Moldova itself.The north London club have the maximum nine points from three games in Group K and lead the section by five points from Anzhi Makhachkala, the Russians who beat Tromso 1-0.Elsewhere, there was frustration for another Premier League side as Swansea City were held to a 1-1 draw by Russian side Kuban Krasnodar in south Wales."It’s massively disappointing to be honest,” said Swansea captain Neil Taylor. "We weren’t at our best. Fair play to them, they gave it everything, but that at the end is a sucker punch.”Last season’s English League Cup winners remain a point clear at the top of the section from Valencia, who romped to a 5-1 home win against St Gallen of Switzerland with Fede Cartabia scoring twice.