Minteh and Ayari on target before Spurs fight back

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Albion held to a 2-2 draw in thriller at the Amex.

Bruce Talbot

2025-09-20T16:55+01:00

Sliding in: Yasin Ayari celebrates after making it 2-0. 📷 Paul Hazlewood.

Albion let a two-goal lead slip as they were held to a 2-2 draw by Spurs in a thriller at the Amex.

Yankuba Minteh broke from the halfway line to open the scoring after eight minutes and Yasin Ayari also netted his first goal of the season when his right-foot shot from the edge of the box flew in on 31 minutes.

But Richarlison pulled one back to give Spurs hopes just before the break and an own goal by Jan Paul van Hecke levelled things with seven minutes to go.

Yankuba Minteh goes round Guglielmo Vicario and puts Albion ahead. 📷 Paul Hazlewood

Spurs had been on the front foot early on but it was Albion who broke the deadlock with a fine breakaway goal. Minteh won the ball back, Brajan Gruda found Georginio Rutter on halfway and his instant pass sent Minteh away. He still had a lot to do but he took the ball around Guglielmo Vicario with his right foot and poked it coolly into empty net with left foot.

The tempo and energy levels from both teams throughout were impressively high. Richarlison found the side netting from close range after van Hecke forced him slightly wide before Vicario blocked a shot by Ayari from the D. At the other end the ball sat up nicely for Wilson Odobert whose volley flew wide off the outside of his right boot.

If Minteh’s goal was special Ayari’s to double Albion's advantage was even better. Lucas Bergvall carelessly passed the ball to the Swede and as no one closed him down he let fly from the corner of the box. Vicario got a touch to his right-foot shot but it had too much power. 2-0.

Yankuba Minteh celebrates after opening the scoring against Spurs. 📷 Paul Hazlewood

Crucially, Spurs got back into it three minutes before half time when Richarlison scored from close range after Mohammed Kudus, who seemed to be aiming for the bottom corner himself, ended up instead finding his teammate six yards out. Unmarked, he swivelled and beat Bart Verbruggen. Albion claimed handball in the build-up, but referee Kavanagh didn’t consult the VAR, much to Fabian Hurzeler’s evident frustration on the touchline.

Initially the second half a lot more cagey but Ayari nearly profited again from outside the box. This time his right-foot drive arrowed a yard wide. Spurs’ substitute Simons was on target with a shot from the left-hand corner, but Verbruggen stretched to push it away. Simons then dragged a much easier effort wide from 15 yards as Spurs began to step up their efforts to equalise.

Delight for Yasin Ayari after he scored from outside the box. 📷 Paul Hazlewood.

Diego Coppola came on to add height and presence to the defence and Albion were happy to sit in and try to counter-attack. Kaoru Mitoma’s shot was smothered by Vicario before he swapped to the right to cross but Ferdi Kadioglu at full stretch couldn’t divert the ball the right side of the post.

With eight minutes left it was 2-2 when van Hecke inadvertently guided Kudus’s excellent right-wing cross into his own net. It felt like the right result. Both sides gave so much to an enthralling game and neither deserved to lose.

Albion: Verbruggen, Veltman, Dunk, van Hecke, Kadioglu (Wieffer 85), Ayari, Baleba (Gomez 45), Minteh (Coppola 75) , Mitoma, Gruda (Milner 63), Rutter (Welbeck 75).