BUZZING FOR THE BEES

Brentford will always hold a special place in Darren Anderton’s heart.

- Paul Miles

His first of 48 Spurs goals in 358 appearances for us between 19922004 came against the Bees in 1992, and the first steps on the journey to what the creative midfielder famously describes as ‘worst game, but best moment in my career’ came against the west London side over two legs back in 1998 – all in the League Cup.

Let’s start at the beginning. Snapped up from Portsmouth in the summer of 1992, having starred in Pompey’s run to the semi-finals of the FA Cup, Darren, then 20, made his debut in our first-ever Premier League game at Southampton on 15 August, 1992 and then, almost two months later, opened his Spurs goalscoring account in our League Cup second round, second leg against Brentford at Griffin Park.

Leading 3-1 from the first game but with form stuttering, Darren put any nerves to rest with a first goal to remember with only two minutes on the clock, a sweet strike from 25 yards that flew into the top corner. We went on to win 4-2 on the night, 7-3 on aggregate, Darren joined on the scoresheet by Teddy Sheringham (3), Kevin Watson, Gordon Durie and Andy Turner over the two legs. Unfortunately, we went out at Forest in the fourth round.

Speaking to us ahead of tonight’s game, Darren recalled: “Whenever I think about Brentford, I think about my debut season in 1992/93 and my first goal for Spurs, at Griffin Park. I’ll always remember that tie because I was playing up against Chrissie Hughton, who was at Brentford then before coming back to Spurs on the coaching staff!