‘Ridiculous in extreme’ delay in crucial Tottenham win labelled ‘amateur’ as players forced to wait for six minutes

Tottenham Hotspur faced a six-minute delay in their massive Premier League win against Everton due to technical difficulties.

Spurs were able to confirm their top flight safety with a 1-0 victory at home to Everton on the final day.

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Joao Palhinha was the man who scored the all-important goal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

However, the match wasn’t without its drama off the pitch, with the start of the second half being delayed.

Assistant referee Stuart Burt had problems with his equipment, and therefore play was not able to resume until it had been fixed.

The delay lasted around six minutes, and meant that Spurs and West Ham’s kick-offs could not be simultaneous.

‘Ridiculous in the extreme’

When speaking on commentary for talkSPORT, Sam Matterface said: “I mean this, is ridiculous, ridiculous in the extreme.

“We’ve waited six minutes longer than we’re supposed to to start the second half and on the final day of the season they’ve always done their very best to choreograph the kick-off times at the start of the first half and the start of the second half.

“But we are miles behind everybody else and we are nowhere near getting underway because we have no assistant on this near touchline.

“Stuart Burt’s equipment has not been working for the last six minutes, it’s not the first time I’ve been at this stadium this season where we’ve had communication failure between the officials which has cost a very long delay I think.

“Now he’s just got his earpiece sorted out, so he’s run down the touchline.

“He’s about to take his place in the Everton half of the field but we haven’t kicked off yet and it’s been a huge delay.

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“Now look, this might give Tottenham a massive advantage if they know that West Ham haven’t won later in the game or it might play into a little bit of anxiety later in the match.

“Either way, this is not ideal.”

Adrian Durham added: “It’s meant to be the gold standard of Premier League and that was amateur.”

Spurs dealt with a technical issue at their home ground earlier in the season during their 4-1 Premier League defeat to Arsenal.

An assistant referee needed to change their microphone pack, and it meant that there was a five-minute break in play.

It looked as though it happened again at the start of the second half, with fans in the stadium booing at another delay.

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Spurs stay up

There will have been a collective sigh of relief in north London when the full-time whistle was blown.

Spurs looked to be on course for an unprecedented relegation during much of the second half of the season.

However, recent wins over Wolves and Aston Villa kept them within reach of safety going into the final day.

They realistically needed just one point to get the job done as they went into match 38 with a two-point lead.

West Ham were 3-0 winners at home to Leeds United, but they’re the third and final team to have relegation confirmed.

The Hammers will now play in the Championship for the first time since the 2011/12 season.