Tottenham goalkeeper Paul Robinson apologized to Watford's Ben Foster for the 'freak' goal that embarrassed his England rival.

Robinson left Foster red-faced when he scored Tottenham's second goal in their 3-1 win over Watford on Saturday. The England number one launched a free-kick from deep in his own half that bounced over Foster and into the net.

The match had been billed as a battle of the top two English goalkeepers and Foster, who has been earning rave reviews this season, was expected to underline his case to unseat Robinson.

But Foster's 63rd minute mistake means England coach Steve McClaren is likely to keep the on-loan Manchester United stopper on the sidelines for the forthcoming Euro 2008 qualifiers against Israel and Andorra.

However, Robinson insists he will go easy on Foster when they meet up for England duty next week.

He said: "I will try not to mention it. I know what it's like and it's not nice.

"It was a bit of a freak. If it goes wide I would probably have got a telling off from the strikers - it's just one of those things in football."

Tottenham's victory moved them into sixth place and was the ideal preparation for today's FA Cup quarterfinal replay against Chelsea. In contrast, Watford look certain to go down after a defeat that left them 11 points from safety.

Steed Malbranque created the first chance in the 17th minute when he got to the byline and cut a cross back, only for Mido to blast over.

Jermaine Jenas was back in action after missing three matches with a groin injury and he looked determined to make up for lost time.

He was at the heart of all Tottenham's best moments and gave Tottenham the lead with a well-taken header before half-time.

Hossam Ghaly added a third for Martin Jol's in-form team before Darius Henderson pulled one back in the last minute for doomed Watford.

Arm's length

Wayne Rooney and Park Ji-Sung grabbed two goals each as Manchester United beat Bolton 4-1 on Saturday to retain a six-point lead over Chelsea at the top of the Premiership.

Chelsea made equally light work of Sheffield United, goals from Andriy Shevchenko, Salomon Kalou and Michael Ballack allowing the champions to cruise to a 3-0 win at Stamford Bridge.

But with only eight games left in the title run-in, time is running short for Jose Mourinho's men: United's superior goal difference means they will almost certainly be champions for the first time since 2003 if they win six of their remaining matches.

"There is nothing we can do about them, we can only win our games," Mourinho admitted with an air of resignation.

At Old Trafford, South Korean midfielder Park scored two close-range efforts either side of Rooney's superbly-taken opener as United killed the lunchtime contest in the space of 11 first-half minutes.

Rooney, United's only fully fit forward, added his second with another brilliant finish quarter of an hour from the end but the real architect of the victory was Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Portuguese winger made United's first three goals before making way for Alan Smith to make his first Premiership appearance since breaking a leg and dislocating an ankle in February 2006.

The one negative point for United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was an ankle ligament injury for Gary Neville that will sideline his captain for at least three weeks.

"To score four goals at home at this stage of the season is tremendous," Ferguson said. "It emphasizes the confidence running through the team."

Elsewhere, West Ham climbed off the bottom of the table with a hugely controversial 2-1 win at Blackburn.

After cancelling out Christopher Samba's opener through a Carlos Tevez penalty, the Hammers claimed only their second win in four months after a goalmouth scramble in which Bobby Zamora's poke was judged to have crossed the line.

Television replays suggested that his shot had been inadvertently blocked by his team-mate Tevez.

Manchester City earned some breathing space by ending a run of five straight defeats with a 2-0 win at Middlesbrough.

(China Daily via AFP March 19, 2007)