CHRIS Baird will be given the chance to prove lightning strikes twice when the Fulham defender lines up free-kicks at Spurs on Saturday.

His boss reckoned it was a ‘massive oversight’ to deny the Northern Ireland international previous opportunities before his two missiles from distance secured the Whites first away win in 27 attempts at Stoke on Tuesday.

In his defence, Mark Hughes reckoned that neither of the previous two managers before him at Craven Cottage saw the potential in Baird’s explosive right foot.

The manager said: "It was a hell of an oversight – but it wasn’t just me.

"Bairdy can hit a ball as sweetly as anyone at the club, and having got the away game hurdle out of the way we can go on to better things."

Despite the 2-0 win at the Britannia Stadium, Hughes is aware his team must nullify the threat of fellow Welshman Gareth Bale at White Hart Lane – as well as his Tottenham team-mates.

He said: "We’ve got to keep his (Bale's) involvement to a minimum – it’s true.

"But the problem is that if you focus too much on one player then Tottenham have got others who can exploit a moment’s loss of focus.

"We’ve got to make sure we break up the momentum they can generate and ask questions ourselves."

The game comes too soon for striker Mousa Dembele – but Hughes has pencilled in the Belgian international for a return to face WBA at home on Tuesday night.

Fulham are also without long-term injured Bobby Zamora and Philippe Senderos as they bid to get out of the Premiership’s bottom three.

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