Harry Redknapp allowed full-back Gareth Bale to get the proverbial monkey off his back last Saturday as Tottenham brushed Burnley aside 5-0.
Bale finally tasted his first victory in a Premier League match at the 25th time of asking after Redknapp brought Bale on in the 86th-minute for Aaron Lennon against the Clarets.
The 19-year-old Welsh star joined Spurs more than two years ago from Southampton but was not involved in a league win until the weekend, but his wait for a top-flight victory after starting a game continues.
Late strikes by Fulham and Liverpool in 2008 denied him a league success, then a foot injury in a defeat to Birmingham ruled the teenager out for the remainder of that campaign.
Last term saw Spurs fail to win in the league until Harry Redknapp s appointment as manager, with Benoit Assou-Ekotto then preferred as his first-choice left-back.
Bale has been in and out of the squad since arriving in 2007 in a deal worth £10million and he will be delighted to brush off a bizarre statistic.
After missing pre-season and the start of the with a torn knee ligament, Bale returned for the midweek win over Preston in the Carling Cup.
That s why I put him on, Redknapp said. I thought we needed to break that hoodoo. It s affected him, I think, but he played well in the before.
He s a left-back really and he could be a top player.
