Tottenham 1 Wolves 1

With four home games in January in the Premier League it was always likely to happen that Spurs would slip up somewhere through the month and so it proved against Wolves who battled well for their point, assisted once again by some basic refereeing mistakes.

Tottenham Hotspur 1 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1

Scorers:  Modric                                         Fletcher 

Team: Friedel; Walker, Dawson, Kaboul, Assou-Ekotto (Rose); Lennon (Defoe), Parker, Modric, Bale; Van der Vaart, Adebayor  Subs (unused): Cudicini, Kranjcar, Bassong, Liveremore, Pavlyuchenko 

Luka Modric

Disappointment, annoyance and frustration are the main feelings following Spurs home draw with Wolves.   Disappointment that two points were dropped against a team that Spurs should have beaten, annoyance that once again Spurs have lost points due to basic refereeing mistakes and frustration that those dropped points have prevented Spurs from sitting joint top of the League level on points with Manchester City and United.

Scott Parker's return to the side after injury in place of Jake Livermore was the only change from the team that defeated Everton on Wednesday evening.  Former Spurs schoolboy, Michael Kightly started his first League game of the season for Wolves after returning from a loan period with Watford.

Wolves showed their intent for hard work and endeavour from the start and Luka Modric also showed his early ambition of scoring a goal with a shot which passed just wide after four minutes.  The move had started with a good cross-field pass from Rafael Van der Vaart to Aaron Lennon who interpassed with Kyle Walker to set up Modric on the edge of the box.  As was to be expected Tottenham enjoyed the majority of the possession with Wolves working hard, high up the pitch, to deny them space and time.  The visitors tactics were very effective but Younes Kaboul was taking the game to them with powerful surging runs out of defence towards the Wolves area and from one of these runs after seventeen minutes he set up Emmanuel Adebayor who took the ball to the bye-line and pulled it back to Modric but as he tried to get control a defender managed to knock the ball away.

A minute later a Gareth Bale shot was deflected over for a corner as Wolves tackled quickly but the visitors were finding it more difficult to get out of their half as Spurs hemmed them in and started to build up some pressure.  On twenty minutes Modric again shot over following a good run by Lennon.

Then Wolves received just the boost their game plan needed.  On twenty one minutes Wolves were awarded their first, and only, corner.  Walker had carefully marshalled the ball out for a goal kick but the referee incorrectly gave them the corner.  Wolves play lives on corners and free-kicks so the defenders came forward and with poor Spurs defending Johnston got a header on goal.  Brad Friedel made a reflex save but it dropped to Steven Fletcher who poked the ball home from a few yards.  Spurs defenders should have coped with the corner but the referee's decision had cost Spurs and to add insult to injury it was the 1000th Premier League goal Spurs have conceded, the first club to reach that unwanted landmark.

Taking the lead inspired Wolves to maintain their hard work and for a time Spurs showed their annoyance with increased efforts on goal.  Two minutes later Modric found Bale in the centre but his shot went over.  Following good play between Van der Vaart and Adebayor, Bale had another shot blocked.  Van der Vaart had a long range effort deflected for another corner and then with over half an hour gone a Benoit Assou-Ekotto cross was headed out by a defender to Modric on the edge of the area but the goalkeeper saved his shot easily.

As Spurs pushed for a goal Wolves saw greater opportunities to counter attack and in the five minutes before half-time they had two goal scoring attempts - a shot wide and one over by Kightly.  Spurs retaliated with a shot from Kaboul which was saved and a goal disallowed for offside.  Bale had a shot which could possibly have been going in, touched into the net by Adebayor who was incorrectly given offside.  This is the third occasion since early December that Adebayor has had goals incorrectly disallowed for off-side - at Stoke and against Chelsea.

The half ended with a free-kick from Van der Vaart being caught by the goalkeeper.  Wolves had the interval lead when if the refereeing decisions had been correct Spurs would have been one goal to the good.

Spurs started the second half determined to get on level terms as Bale shot over but poor defending allowed Frampong a shot which Friedel saved.  Then on fifty minutes Modric scored.  It was a goal similar in creation to the one against West Brom.  Van der Vaart received the ball in the area and passed out to Bale on the edge of the box and he played it across the area for Modric to score from twenty five yards.

Three minutes later the goalkeeper saved Wolves when stopping a shot from Modric and the follow up from Lennon.  On the hour Bale headed a Assou-Ekotto cross over and then two minutes later he headed a Lennon cross towards the centre but neither Van der Vaart nor Adebayor could get a scoring touch.  Van der Vaart put a free kick just wide as Spurs searched for the goal to put them ahead.  Bale and Walker both shot over and then the goalkeeper saved with his feet from Jermain Defoe who had replaced Lennon with seventeen minutes remaining.

Spurs continued to press as Walker had a shot blocked and Modric shot over.  The last opportunity to get a winner came in the final minute of added time but Bale's free-kick sailed over the bar.

Wolves deserved their point for their determined play and looked dangerous when they broke from defence but there is that annoying thought that Spurs were deprived of the three points by refereeing decisions going against them.  All the papers today are focusing on the 'Spurs fall short' theme in their attempt to go level on points with City and United but overlooking the refereeing decisions.  Similar decisions against Stoke City and Chelsea have now cost Spurs seven points.

The result now makes next weekend's match even more important for Spurs as they need to prevent City opening up an eight point gap, unless Wigan can do a 'Wolves' tomorrow evening. 

They Played for Spurs and Wolves

Jamie O'Hara was transferred from Spurs to Wolves last summer, having been on loan during last season.  Others have played for both clubs but the last player to join Spurs from the Midlands side was goalkeeper Hans Segers in 1996.

Robbie Keane (Wolves & Spurs)

Robbie Keane, Dean Richards and Paul Stewart are three of the nineteen former Spurs players who have played for Wolves none of them were inviolved in a direct transfer between the two clubs.

Jamie O'Hara who is currently injured spent part of last season on loan with Wolves and joined the Molineux club last summer for a fee of £5 million.  He had started his career with the Arsenal Academy before joining Tottenham.  He made 34 League appearances for Spurs and scored twice in six years with the club.  He had a period on loan with Portsmouth in 2010 and then a serious back injury required surgery at the start of the following season.  He went to Wolves on loan in January, 2011 and helped them avoid relegation and then joined the club in a permanent deal. 

Another player currently with Wolves started his career with Spurs but was released without making any senior appearances.  He went to non-League football before returning to League football with the Midlands club.  Michael Kightly was a schoolboy at Spurs but on being released worked his way back with Southend United and Gray's Athletic before joining Wolves in 2008 and helping them to promotion two years ago. 

The last player to sign for Spurs from Wolves was goalkeeper, Hans Segers who joined the club in 1998.  After a lengthy career with Nottingham Forest and Wimbledon, Segers joined Wolves as reserve in 1996.  He then went to Woking before returning to Wolves and made 11 appearances.  He joined Spurs as back-up and played one League game at Southampton in September, 1998.  He then became Spurs goalkeeping coach and was with the club until 2007 and the departure of Martin Jol.

Stefan Iversen moved from Spurs to Wolves in 2003 after seven years at White Hart Lane.  He had been part of the Worthington Cup winning team of 1999, scoring the semi-final goal against Wimbledon to secure Tottenham's place in the Final.  He scored 41 goals in 138 League appearances for Spurs and it was his powerful run and centre late in the Final against Leicester City which created the goal for Allan Nielsen.  One of his best Spurs' performances was at Sunderland when he scored a hat-trick in a 4 - 0 win in March, 1996.  He had a year with Wolves before returning to Norway.
 
Allan Nielsen was also with Wolves, joining them for a loan period in 2000.  He joined Spurs from Brondby in 1996 after the European championships.  He received the 'Man of the Match' award after his winning goal performance at Wembley.  After Euro 2000 he joined Watford for £2.5 million, having originally cost £1.65million.  He made 97 League appearances, scoring 12 goals for Spurs.

Andy Sinton who was a substitute for the Worthington Cup Final also moved to Wolves.  He had joined Spurs from Sheffield Wednesday in 1996, having also played for QPR.  In three seasons with Spurs he scored six goals in 83 League appearances.  He had three years with Wolves making 71 appearances.

Robbie Keane played for Wolves after arriving from Ireland.  After two seasons he moved on to Coventry City and a year later joined Inter Milan.  He scored 24 goals for Wolves in 73 League games.  After a year in Italy he joined Leeds United and was signed by Spurs in 2002.  In six years he 82 League goals from 197 League games.  He unexpectedly joined Liverpool in the summer of 2008 having helped Spurs defeat Chelsea in the 2008 Carling Cup Final.  An unsuccessful time at Anfield saw him return to Spurs in February, 2009.  He failed to re-ignite his career or find his goal scoring touch and after periods on loan with Celtic and West Ham United, he joined LA Galaxy in 2011.  In total Robbie Keane scored over 100 League and Cup goals for Spurs, including a hat-trick against his former club in 2003 and had many memorable goal scoring moments throughout his Tottenham career.

At last season's Premier League game at Molineux, both clubs and supporters paid a touching tribute  to the former player, the late Dean Richards, who had sadly passed away just prior to the match.  Richards had played over 100 matches for Wolves before his transfer to Southampton in 1999.  He had two seasons at the south coast club before his former manager, Glenn Hoddle, signed him for Spurs in August, 2001 for £8.1 million.  A central defender, Richards made a scoring debut against Manchester United at White Hart Lane.  Spurs were three ahead by half-time but United recovered to win 5 - 3.  Richards failed to reach his full potential at Spurs due to injury and illness.  He retired in 2005 and passed away at the age of 35 after a long illness. 

Gordon Smith who had joined Spurs from Aston Villa joined Wolves in 1982 after four seasons at White Hart Lane.  Injury prevented him from establishing himself at Tottenham and he then spent two seasons with Wolves, making 38 League appearances for both clubs but Wolves got the better value as he scored 3 goals for them but only managed one with Spurs.

Steve Sedgley, Paul Stewart, Vinny Samways and Mark Kendall all played for both clubs but were not involved in direst transfers between the clubs.

The first player to move from Wolves to Spurs was goalkeeper Tommy Lunn.  He spent six years with Wolves and joined Tottenham in April, 1910.  He had won the FA Cup with Wolves in 1908 and came to Spurs towards the end of their first season in the 1st Division as they battled against relegation.  He played in the final two games of the season, no transfer windows in those early days, which Spurs won and avoided the drop.  He was th eregular goalkeeper until November, 1912 and then lost his place to John 'Tiny' Joyce and joined Stockport in June, 1913.

Sammy Brooks had a long career with Wolves before and after the 1st World War before joining Spurs for two seasons in 1922.  Brooks played on the left wing and appeared in the 1921 FA Cup Final against Spurs and had a chance to equalise.  He failed to live up to expectations at Tottenham and was eventually sold to Southend United.

Harry Hargreaves was a forward who joined Spurs from in December, 1923 having previously spent eighteen months with Wolves.  He was released and went to play in Wales before joining Spurs.  He only made 34 League appearances, scoring 7 goals before moving to Burnley in March, 1926.

Harry Marshall, a forward, played only once for Spurs in 1932.  He had signed from Port Vale in March, 1930 after two seasons with Wolves.  He was released after two years at White Hart Lane.

Cyril Spiers spent five seasons with Spurs playing 158 games in goal for the club from 1927 to 1933.  He had previously been with Aston Villa but was released after a serious injury and it was thought he wouldn't be able to play again.  However, after recovering he had a trial with Spurs and was signed by them.  He was regular goalkeeper for the next four years and joined Wolves in September, 1933 and was later made assistant manager.

He Managed Both Clubs
Glenn Hoddle is a Spurs 'Legend' and  having made over 350 League appearances for the club and helped them to numerous successes in the early 1980s he returned as manager in 2001.  This proved less successful and he was sacked in 2003.  he later managed Wolves from 2004 to 2006.

Spurs v Wolves Preview

Tottenham play their fourth consecutive home match in twelve days.  To date all has gone well with progress in the FA Cup and victories over West Brom and Everton to lift Spurs to joint second in the Premier League, level on points with United and three points behind City.

Wolverhampton Wanderers will arrive at White Hart Lane with two objectives tomorrow afternoon - to avoid becoming the second club that Spurs have completed the 'double' over this season and to achieve what they managed on their last visit to north London, a draw against Arsenal at Christmas or even better to repeat their success of two seasons ago when they scored a goal after three minutes and frustrated Spurs for the rest of the game to take all three points in their first win at White Hart Lane since November, 1973.

Mick McCarthy will be hoping the players will respond in a positive way to the rather public utterings of the club owner, Steve Morgan who has let it be known that he is looking for an improvement in the second half of the season as he doesn't think that 17 points from 20 matches is good enough.  This has put added pressure on McCarthy to ensure that the players are focused and know exactly what they have to do.

This will, undoubtedly, be another game where Spurs will find themselves facing a packed defence with forwards expected to track back and help in midfield and defence as required and then make to most of any opportunities which provide themselves at the set-piece plays where tall defenders will pile forward in search of a goal.  To date, Spurs have shown a patience to work at breaking down such defences and with a little more awareness and control in the penalty area could have won previous matches by a greater margin.

Wolves are in 16th place in the Premier League, two places but only one point above the relegation zone.  From ten away games they have taken six points from three draws and one win.  They have scored 10 goals and conceded 18.  Their only win was on the opening day of the season when they defeated Blackburn Rovers 3 - 2 at Ewood Park.  They followed that with a draw at Aston Villa and their undefeated three match start to the season came to an end when Spurs visited Molineux in September.  After such an encouraging start to the season, taking seven points from the first three games they have found it more difficult to pick up points.

Last Saturday they played out a goalless draw at Birmingham City in the FA Cup and in their previous two away Premier League games they earned a point in each with 1 - 1 draws at Bolton and Arsenal.  In both of those matches they came from behind to equalise through Steven Fletcher.  These recent results on their travels have shown them to be difficult to break down awith a resilience as they battle to improve their position.  Their last away defeat was at Manchester United in mid-December (1 - 4).  Other away losses have been at the hands of Liverpool (1 - 2), WBA (0 - 2), Manchester City (1 - 3), Everton (1 - 2) and Chelsea (0 - 3).

Wolves don't appear to have too many injury problems although former Spurs player, Jamie O'Hara is out long term.  Others who had minor knocks are recovering and available for selection -
Fletcher and Roger Johnson picked up minor ankle problems last weekend but have recovered as has
Dave Edwards after a groin problem.  Nenad Milijas is also back after completing his suspension.

Steven Fletcher is Wolves' leading goal scorer with 8 goals in the League, five ahead of four players - Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, Stephan Ward, Stephen Hunt and O'Hara.  Fletcher scored in last season's game at White Hart Lane and also in the 3 - 3 draw at Molineux where Kevin Doyle scored twice as well as getting the winner two seasons ago.  This season Doyle has scored two goals.

Wolves feel they have been unfortunate in recent weeks with decisions which have gone against them - in the home match against Chelsea where they lost to a last minute goal and the sending off of Milijas against Arsenal.  They will take encouragement from their performance at the Emirates and from other results in recent weeks - Blackburn's win at Old Trafford, Sunderland's defeat of Manchester City, Aston Villa winning at Chelsea - and see these as proof that the top teams can be beaten when the other team shows the application and belief that they can get a result.  Spurs will have to be wary of allowing such motives on the part of the visitors to get a control of the game.  While everyone in the media is talking up next weekend's meeting with City in Manchester the Spurs players are aware that the game against Wolves is the most important at the moment as a win would put them level on points with City who don't play until Monday evening and probably United who play Bolton on Saturday.  All three clubs could have 48 points by tea-time tomorrow.

League Record against Wolves at White Hart Lane

P  40  W  28  D  7  L  5  For 102  Ag  53

 
Home Premier League Record against Wolves

P  3  W  2  D  0  L  1  For  8  Ag  4

Last Season's Result

Sept. 2010  PL  Won  3 - 1 Van der Vaart (pen), Pavlyuchenko, Hutton

Wolves took the lead on the stroke of half-time through Fletcher in last season's match.  They held their lead in what was looking like a repeat of the previous season until thirteen minutes from time when Rafael Van der Vaart brought Spurs level from the penalty spot after a strong run into the area by Alan Hutton who was brought down by Ward.  Spurs then won the game in the final three minutes with two goals from Roman Pavlyuchenko and Hutton.

Memorable Matches against Wolves at the Lane

Dec. 2003  PL  Won 5 - 2  Keane (3), Kanoute, Dalmat

It was Wolves first game at White Hart Lane for twenty years and their first there in the Premier League.  Former Wolves player Robbie Keane, scored a hat-trick.  He put Spurs ahead after 29 minutes but Paul Ince equalised a minute later.  Early in the second half Fredi Kanoute restored Spurs lead and Keane completed his hat-trick by scoring in the 75th and 83rd minute.  Wolves pulled one back but in the final minute Stephane Dalmat scored the fifth for Spurs with a great strike. 

Feb. 1983  Div. 1 Won 6 - 1  Villa (3), Falco, Hoddle (pen), Crooks

This match marked the official opening of the new West Stand with the duties performed by Sir Stanley Rous, the former President of FIFA.  Spurs celebrated in grand style with an emphatic win over a poor Wolves side who were to be relegated at the end of the season. Ricky Villa rose to the occasion once again by scoring a hat-trick.  Glenn Hoddle scored Spurs' first goal from the penalty spot and then Villa got his first. Wolves scored just before half-time but in the second half Villa completed his hat-trick while Garth Crooks and Mark Falco also added to the scoring.

  

Mar. 1965  Div. 1  Won 7 - 4  Clayton, Allen, Gilzean (2), Jones (3)

An eleven goal thriller. The Spurs goals came from Eddie Clayton, Les Allen, Alan Gilzean (2) and Cliff Jones (3).

A number of interesting facts about this game:

• this was Les Allen’s last goal for Spurs
• Keith Weller a young forward made his debut and
• Jimmy Greaves was playing but surprisingly did not score.

Wolves had scored first but Spurs equalized and at half-time the score was 1-1.  With six minutes to go the score was 5-4 and then Jones scored two late goals for his hat-trick.

Spurs know that they must win this match as they continue to chase Manchester City and United but they are aware that Wolves will prove to be very awkward opponents who must be taken seriously.  A Spurs win over Wolves would make next week's match in Manchester very interesting as it could provide Spurs with an opportunity to move level on points with City having played the same number of matches.  But that's for next week, this weekend it's all about Wolves and the chase for a vital win.

   

Tottenham 2 Everton 0

Spurs managed to maintain their good home form with a comfortable win over Everton who showed greater attacking intent than some previous visitors.  A goal in each half secured the three points with the goals being scored by Aaron Lennon and a wonder strike from Benoit Assou-Ekotto.

Tottenham Hotspur 2 Everton 0

Scorers: Lennon, Assou-Ekotto                                        

Team: Friedel; Walker, Dawson, Kaboul, Assou-Ekotto; Lennon (Pienaar), Livermore, Modric, Bale; Van der Vaart, Adebayor (Pavlyuchenko).  Subs (unused): Cudicini, Bassong, Rose, Kranjcar, Defoe

Spurs won comfortably against Everton to move level on points with Manchester United and three points behind City.  Apart from an early strike in the opening minute by Luis Saha which went wide Spurs were relatively untroubled by the visitors apart from a couple of headers from corners.

Everton competed well in the opening minutes with Saha and Victor Anichebe dropping back to support in midfield but as the half progressed Spurs started to create some scoring opportunities.  Rafael Van der Vaart curled a shot just over the bar and Emmanuel Adebayor had two opportunities to put Spurs ahead but lack of control was his downfall.  As the half hour approached Spurs looked to be gaining the ascendency and so it proved as Leighton Baines misjudged a long cross-field pass from Benoit Assou-Ekotto.  This gave Aaron Lennon the opportunity to get behind him and run into the area.  Going across the area he shot to the near post with his left foot to wrong foot Tim Howard as the goalkeeper expected a shot across goal.

In the second half play continued with Everton looking to contain.  Luka Modric was the subject of some tough tackling which the referee chose to ignore, especially on an occasion as Everton attacked, Modric was left lying on the ground but Spurs broke at pace and Howard saved the visitors with a good save from a powerful shot by Gareth Bale who had sprinted from box to box.  As Modric recovered he drew the referee's attention to the damage that had been done to his shin but again the referee was not interested.

It's not often that Benoit Assou-Ekotto scores a goal but when he does they are goals to remember.  With just over an hour gone the full back advanced up the left to be an attacking option as he does so often, he received the ball and cut in towards the middle and as Everton's defence opened up in front of him he shot from over thirty yards and while the ball took a slight deflection, the goalkeeper didn't get near it.  Ekotto scored an equally memorable goal against Liverpool at the start of the 2009 - 2010 season.

Two nil and Spurs were comfortable with few anxieties got through to the finish and the visitors relieved to accept that scoreline.

Spurs played some lovely football with Bale showing Phil Neville that he wasn't going to be intimidated as happened last season.  The only disappointment would be that Spurs in a season when they have played their best football for many years, haven't managed to run up a big score against any team.  They have lacked the goalscoring instinct to accept enough of the numerous opportunities that they've created in so many matches. 

After two games of this season, Spurs were in despair but now at just past the halfway point they are three points behind the League leaders and have opened a gap of eight points on Chelsea and nine ahead of Arsenal.  Next Saturday's game with Wolves is vital to maintain this strong position and the challenge at the top of the table.

The opening match of the season may have come five months late but on this occasion, it was well worth waiting for!

COYS

Tottenham v Everton Preview

Spurs and Everton finally get the opportunity to play their 'opening match of the season' - in January.  This match which has been so important to Spurs and  Everton supporters, when calculating League tables and the position of their team taking account of their 'one game in hand'.  It is about to come to pass and all will be revealed by 21.40 (approx) this evening - will the gap to those clubs above have narrowed and will the advantage over to those below be three points greater?

Everton took four points from Spurs last season and so will believe that they can do a repeat job this year.  They are in 11th position in the Premier League with 24 points - 13 points having been earned away from Goodison Park.  They have won 4 and drawn 1 of their nine away matches, having scored and conceded 10 goals on their travels.  The goals tally shows immediately that they keep it very tight, giving little away and their away record shows a number of games going in their favour with late goals.  

The first away game of the season was at Blackburn and they took the three points with a penalty scored in the 92nd minute, Arteta's gift before leaving for Arsenal.  At Fulham, after taking an early lead but then looking set to lose the match only for Bobby Zamora to miss an open goal very late in the match, Everton turned the match on its head by scoring twice in added time to win 3 - 1.  A similar style of win came in  their last away match against WBA on New Year's Day.  A dull game was drawing to a scoreless conclusion only for Everton to score with three minutes left through substitute, Victor Anichebe.  Their fourth away success came at Bolton with two second half strikes - so Spurs need to be wary of Everton making a late push to snatch the points.  Everton's other away point came at Sunderland on Boxing Day when they equalised in the second half through a Leighton Baines' penalty, to deny Martin O'Neill's rejuvenated side - the only points Sunderland dropped over the holiday period.

Everton lost early in the season at Manchester City (0 - 2), Chelsea (1 - 3), Newcastle (1 - 2) and at Arsenal (0 - 1) in mid-December.  Last weekend they progressed in the FA Cup at  home to non-League Tamworth (2 - 0) with an early goal from Johnny Heitinga and a second half penalty scored by Baines.

Leighton Baines, the penalty and free-kick specialist, is Everton's leading goalscorer with 4 goals from 4 penalties (three in the League) .  Spurs know to be wary of him as he scored with a stunning free-kick to give Everton the lead in last season's game at White Hart Lane.  Leon Osman and Apostolos Vellios, their Greek striker, have each scored three goals.

Everton have a problem with a number of injuries and it was added to when defender Phil Jagielka and Jack Rodwell went off in their last League game with Bolton.  Seamus Coleman also suffered a recurrence of a thigh injury in the FA Cup tie with Tamworth.  Tim Cahill, Leon Osman,  and Tony Hibbert are all injury worries for Everton.   Landon Donovan has returned to the club on a short term loan from Los Angeles Galaxy.

Spurs have their own injury concerns with Ledley King and William Gallas out of defence while Sandro and Scott Parker will be missing in midfield.  Michael Dawson and Aaron Lennon played in the FA Cup against Cheltenham Town and could be available for the match.

Home Record in Premier League against Everton

P  19  W  11  D  5  L  3  For  37  Ag  24

Home League Record v Everton (inc. PL)

P  74  W  37  D  21  L  16  For  145  Ag  91

Recent PL Home Games

Oct. 2010  PL  Draw 1 - 1 Van der Vaart

Spurs went into the game on the back of their thrilling dedeat in the San Siro and everyone was expecting a repeat preformance from Gareth Bale.  Everton took the lead with a free-kick from Baines in the first half and Rafael Van der Vaart levelled three minutes later from an assist by Peter Crouch.  It was Van der Vaart's fifth goal in four home appearances.  Bale had a quiet game as Phil Neville used all his experience to nullify the threat posed.

Feb. 2010  PL  Won 2 - 1  Pavlyuchenko, Modric

Two goals in the first half hour from Roman Pavlyuchenko and Luka Modric set Spurs up for the win but and Everton goal early in the second half made it more difficult than it had first appeared as Everton showed improved form after the interval.

Nov. 2008  PL  Lost 0 - 1

After their long sequence without a win at Tottenham, Everton took advantage of a loss of concentration by Spurs to score the only goal from a quickly taken free-kick.  The first half was scoreless but Steven Peinaar put Everton ahead within six minutes of the restart getting the ball from the free-kick, which Spurs didn't react to quickly enough.

Aug. 2007  PL  Lost 1 - 3  Gardner
Spurs start to the season went from bad to worse.  Having lost at Sunderland on the opening day, they compounded it but losing comprehensively in their first home game.  Everton were ahead after three minutes but Tony Gardner equalised after twenty minutes.  Everton scored twice in the eight minutes leading up to the interval and Spurs with a number of injuries in defence never looked like recovering.


Aug. 2006  PL  Lost 0 - 2
It was exactly twenty one years from Everton's last League win at White Hart Lane but two second half goals secured their win.


Oct. 2005  PL  Won 2 - 0  Mido, Jenas
Everton played with five in midfield and they held out for an hour.  Then Mido and Jermaine Jenas scored twice with headers within six minutes to secure the points.

 
Memorable Matches
1st January, 2005  Spurs 5 Everton 2 Marney (2), Ziegler, Mendes, Keane
What a way to start the New Year especially for Dean Marney who scored his only goals for the club.

12th January, 2003  Spurs 4 Everton 3 Keane (3), Poyet
Five goals in the second half after Spurs levelled in the first half through Gus Poyet, Everton having gone ahead in the tenth minute.  After the interval Everton twice pulled Spurs back after Keane put then ahead but Keane completed his hat-trick with seven minutes remaining.
 
3rd October, 1993  Spurs 3 Everton 2 Sheringham, Anderton, Caskey
Everton were ahead at the interval but Teddy Sheringham equalised on the hour.  Everton regained the lead and with two minutes remaining seemed to have earned the points.  Darren Anderton then drew Spurs level and Darren Caskey scored the winner in the last minute.
 
11th October, 1958  Spurs 10 Everton 4 Ryden, Medwin, Harmer, Smith (4), Stokes (2), Robb
What a way for Bill Nicholson to start his managerial career.  Appointed on the morning of the match the players responded and produced this outstanding result - a sign of the great times ahead at White Hart Lane when 'Sir' Bill was in charge.

25th December, 1956  Spurs 6 Everton 0  Medwin, (2), Harmer (pen), Smith R (2), Stokes    
A memorable way to mark the last time Spurs played a game on Christmas Day at White Hart Lane.  The tradition of playing matches on that day was finally brought to an end in 1958.

Once again, as against WBA, Spurs face a side with a better away record that home and a team who have benefited from late goals.  Spurs can expect to face tactics similar to those employed by Sunderland and West Brom and even Chelsea in their initial approach to the game.  All three teams sat back and filled the area in front of their defence to stop Spurs' quick passing movements and to frustrate the opportunities for Kyle Walker, Bale and Lennon to run with the ball at pace.  Chelsea started the game in that way but became more expressive after Spurs went ahead.  

Everton will come to defend and restrict Spurs with a well organised game plan.  Even if they are weakened due to injuries David Moyes will expect his team to work hard in front of  Spurs to ensure they have no time on the ball and rely on Tim Howard to produce another sound display in goal.  Everton will attempt to wear Spurs down through time and then in the final part of the game hope to gain some extra reward for their effort with late attacking substitutions attempting to make their mark with a late goal as they have done previously in their away games. 

Spurs will hope for an early goal to upset any defensive plan which Everton might have set up so as to provide them with space to play in and the opportunity for the win to strengthen their position by moving level on points with Manchester United and create an eight point advantage over Chelsea in fourth place.

They Played for Spurs and Everton

Tottenham and Everton first met competitively in 1904 when Spurs as a non-League team defeated them in the FA Cup, the last time Everton lost at home to a non-League team.  Only eleven players, however, have played for both teams and there have only been six direct transfers between the clubs but the list does include some prestigious and famous names.

Alex Young, a centre forward, was the first player to be transferred between the two clubs.  Not Everton's 1960s Alex Young, but a version from 1911.  He had played for Everton for ten seasons and had scored over 100 League goals for the side as well as scoring the winning goal in the 1906 FA Cup Final.  He had also won two caps for Scotland but his time with Spurs was short.  He signed in June, 1911 and was gone by the following November.  He scored three goals in his first two games but didn't score again and when dropped demanded a transfer and was allowed to go to Manchester City.  He emigrated to Australia in 1914 but a year later was charged with the wilful murder of his brother and was found guilty of manslaughter.  Evidence had been produced from his football days in England showing that he had been subject to fits of temporary insanity.  On completion of his year three year sentence he was not released immediately on grounds of 'mental weakness'.  He did later return to Scotland.

Last January, Steven Peinaar joined Spurs from Everton but injury problems have, so far, prevented him from making an impression at White Hart Lane.  The South African international had three and a half seasons with the Goodison Park side having signed from Borussia Dortmond in 2007, at first on loan.  He made over 100 League appearances, scoring 9 goals.  He had played for Ajax Cape Town before joining Ajax at the age of eighteen.  Pienaar has returned to Goodison on loan to the end of the season but will not be available to play against Spurs.

As Pienaar was returning north at the end of January, so Louis Saha was moving south to join Tottenham.  He scored twice on his home League debut against Newcastle, having made his first appearance as a substitute at Anfield a few days earlier.  Saha has scored twice, against Spurs, in the last two games at Goodison so, if playing, he will be looking to score against his old team on Saturday.


Bobby Mimms was the second player to join Spurs from Everton, 77 years after Alex Young.  He had played understudy to Neville Southall at Goodison and in February, 1988 Terry Venables decided he could help to resolve Spurs goalkeeping problems.  However, this didn't prove to be the case and he was replaced by Erik Thorstvedt the following year.  His time at Spurs is not remembered favourably by supporters and he was transferred to Blackburn Rovers in December, 1990 where he had a much more successful time.

Pat Van den Hauwe joined Spurs in August, 1989.  He helped Spurs win the FA Cup of 1991 and the title of his autobiography, 'Psycho Pat' sums up perfectly the hard-man full back.  He was signed by Venables for a position which had caused Spurs problems for many seasons.  He had enjoyed success with Everton as they won the League title twice, and the European Cup Winners' Cup as well as reaching the FA Cup final on three occasions.  He brought experience, strength and power to the Spurs defence.  After four seasons and over 100 League appearances he joined Millwall.

Vinny Samways takes the honours as the only player to be transferred from Spurs to Everton.  He developed through the Spurs youth system and after eight seasons with the club he moved north in August, 1994.  He played 193 League games and scored 11 goals in his time at White Hart Lane and was in the FA Cup winning team of 1991.  The introduction of Ossie Ardiles' attacking five formation which included Jurgen Klinsmann, Teddy Sheringham, Nicky Barmby, Darren Anderton and Ille Dumitrescu restricted Samways' opportunities to play.  He failed to settle at Goodison and only made 23 League appearances.  He had periods on loan and then moved to Spain in 1996 where he developed a reputation as a 'hardman', an aspect of his game not previously seen in England.

Famous Names
Other players who played for both Spurs and Everton include Gary Lineker who had three seasons in Spain under Terry Venables at Barcelona after a year with Everton, before returning to England to play at White Hart Lane.

Richard Gough had just over a season with Spurs in from 1986 to 1988 when he captained the side to their only FA Cup Final defeat.  He was a stylish, commanding centre back but unfortunately for Tottenham, his family failed to settle in London and he returned to Scotland to play for Rangers.  Eleven years after leaving White Hart Lane he had two years with Everton.

Paul Gascoigne had his success and heartache with Spurs and then after playing for Lazio, Rangers and Middlesbrough he spent two seasons with Everton from 2000.

Nick Barmby left Spurs in 1995 after developing through the Spurs youth system.  He scored 21 League goals from 89 appearances for Spurs, before moving north to Middlesbrough to be closer to his home.  A year later he joined Everton and four years on moved to Liverpool, a rare occurrence.  He has now been confirmed as manager with his home club, Hull City.

David Ginola joined from Newcastle United and enjoyed three seasons with Spurs, winning the Worthington Cup, and then joined Aston Villa in 2000.  A year later he signed for Everton.

FA Cup Tottenham 3 Cheltenham Town 0

Spurs progressed to the FA Cup 4th Round with a comfortable win over League 2 side, Cheltenham Town.  Two ahead at the interval through Defoe and Pavlyuchenko, Spurs added a late third from Giovani Dos Santos.  Cheltenham battled throughout, especially in the second half.

Tottenham Hotspur 3 Cheltenham Town 0

Scorers: Defoe, Pavlyuchenko, Giovani

Team: Cudicini; Livermore, Dawson (Carroll), Bassong, Rose; Lennon (Bostock), Kranjcar, Pienaar, Giovani; Pavlyichenko, Defoe (Falque)  Subs (unused): Gomes, Kaboul, Van der Vaart, Parrett

Tottenham eased through the 3rd Round tie with a team showing ten changes from the one which started against West Bromwich Albion last Tuesday evening.  Only Jermain Defoe remained from that team but Michael Dawson and Aaron Lennon had recovered from injury to bring further first team experience to a team containing eight internationals.  Only Carlo Cudicini, Jake Livermore and Danny Rose are not full internationals in a team which had too much experience for their League 2 opponents.

Cheltenham started at a pace with Kaid Mohamed taking Livermore by surprise with his pace in the opening seconds.  They worked hard and were quicker to the ball but without ever threatening the Tottenham goal.  Roman Pavlyuchenko worked himself a good chance after fourteen minutes when he curled a shot over from 16 yards.  The opening goal came after 23 minutes when Niko Kranjcar played Giovani through and he lifted the ball over the advancing goalkeeper and looked to have scored until Defoe poked the ball home from virtually on the goal-line, much to the Mexican's annoyance.  Defoe had scored Tottenham's 750th FA Cup goal, only the second club to reach that landmark.

Rose put in a dangerous cross on thirty two minutes which caused the goalkeeper problems but he did well to get back and keep it out.  Just as it looked as if Cheltenham were going to get to half-time without any more difficulty, Spurs struck suddenly with a good team passing movement which resulted in Giovani putting in a clever through ball to Defoe who squared for Pavlyuchenko to score from six yards.  It was Pavlyuchenko's eighth goal from eleven FA Cup appearances.

Cheltenham had a chance in added time when Mohamed intercepted Kranjcar's pass and ran at Dawson.  He shot early but Cudicini dealt with it.

After half-time Cheltenham increased their enderavour and worked hard to restrict Spurs although any chances fell to the home side with Scott Brown making a number of good saves for Cheltenham.  Defoe was put through but his shot was saved from a narrow angle with Pavlyuchenko unmarked.  The Russian had a chip go over and Giovani had a shot over after good work by Defoe and Kranjcar.  On the hour Brown made a good save from Defoe having been put through by Pavlyuchenko.  Then Livermore shot over from 25 yards.  

Kranjcar had a shot saved and Giovani's follow up was blocked.  Then Russell Penn shot over for Cheltenham after Brian Smikle beat Rose on the right.  Defoe was replaced by Yago Falque after 75 minutes and Brown saved from Sebastien Bassong.  Cheltenham won their first corner after eighty minutes.

As Town tired and with four minutes remaining, Rose intercepted a pass and played in Giovani to complete the scoring with a shot which deflected off a defender and looped over the goalkeeper.  It was hard on Cheltenham to concede another goal after all their hard work in the second half.  Marlon Pack had a late opportunity to score a consolation goal but shot over.

The attendance was 35, 672 - the biggest crowd ever to watch a Cheltenham Town game.

Cheltenham Town's manager, Mark Yates summed up the match perfectly, "Tottenham are quality but we have done ourselves so proud today.  It was a learning curve and we've given them a game."

Before the game, knowing that Harry Redknapp was going to rest players, Yates said, "I went to Ireland to watch them and saw a similar team beat Shamrock Rovers in the Europa League and we know the quality they have beneath the first XI.  Whatever team they put out it will be a massive step up from what we've been playing."  And so it proved.

I 'watched' the game on Twitter with a BBC Radio Gloucester commentary.  Thanks for all the tweets to keep us informed.

For Spurs it's Everton on Wednesday evening while Cheltenham play Aldershot next weekend.  They deserve a warm welcome home from their supporters next Saturday.

FA Cup 4th Round Draw: Tomorrow evening - 5.30pm ITV - Tottenham Hotspur No. 8

7th January - Spurs Have Never Lost at Home

7th January - What a Day!

Spurs have an amazing home record for this day - 7th January.

They have NEVER lost at home on this particular date while the away record is nearly as good, showing just one defeat.

Home Record: P 15 Won 14 Draw 1 Lost 0 For 51 Ag 15
Away Record: P 6 Won 3 Draw 2 Lost 1 For 5 Ag 1

Amazingly, many of the matches are memorable in their own right. The completed home record is:

1888 v St Brides (Fr) Won 3-2

1899 v Royal Artillery (SL) Won 1-0

1905 v Watford (SL) Won 2-0
1911 v Bristol City (Div 1) Won 3-2
(Billy Minter scored a hat-trick)

1928 v Newcastle United (Div 1) Won 5-2(George Osborne scored 4 goals but Spurs were relegated that season – they lost the final four games of the season to unexpectedly drop into a relegation place, having been 8th in mid-March.  Spurs were on a end of season tour in Holland when their fate was sealed)

1933 v Stoke City (Div 2) Won 3-2
(Spurs won promotion at the end of the season)

1939 v Watford (FAC) Won 7-1
(Spurs’ players wore numbered shirts for the first time – another 1st for Spurs)
1956 v Boston United (FAC) Won 4-0
(Spurs overcame non-League opposition and reached the semi-final of the Cup)

1961 v Charlton Athletic (FAC) Won 3-2
(The start of the second stage of the push for the ‘Double’)

1970 v Bradford City (FA Cup Rep) Won 5-0
(Jimmy Greaves’ last FA Cup goals for Spurs)
1978 v Bolton Wanderers (FAC) Draw 2-2(The only blot on a perfect record-the 2nd Division rivals were competing for promotion)

1981 v QPR (FAC Rep) Won 3-1
(Spurs were ‘On Their Way to Wembley')

1995 v Altrincham (FAC) Won 3-0(Spurs overcame non-League opposition and reached the semi-final of the Cup)

2004 v Birmingham City (Prem) Won 4-1
(Dalmat’s two goals and performance were the highlight of his time at Tottenham)

The highlight of the away record for this day is a 2-0 victory at Highbury in 1967 with goals from Jimmy Robertson and Alan Gilzean.

The last time Spurs played on 7th January was in 2007 when they travelled to Cardiff to play City in the 3rd Round of the FA Cup.  The result was a scoreless draw.

The one disappointment and black spot is a Cup defeat against Bradford City in 1989.  The FA Cup 3rd Round visit to the 2nd Division side ended with a 0-1 defeat.

7th January, 2012 Spurs have maintained this amazing record with a 3 - 0 success over Cheltenham Town at White Hart Lane in the FA Cup 3rd Round. Jermain Defoe and Roman Pavlyuchenko gave them the advantage at the interval and a late goal from Giovani Dos Santos completed the scoring against the League 2 side who battled determinedly throughout.

FA Cup Tottenham v Cheltenham Town

Cheltenham Town from League 2 visit White Hart Lane in the 3rd Round of the FA Cup for the first ever match between the two clubs.  This is Spurs' fifth successive home draw on 3rd Round day and their seventh in the past nine seasons.  Cheltenham's best performance in the FA Cup was reaching the 5th Round ten years ago.  This is their fifth appearance in the 3rd Round and last season they were knocked out in the 2nd Round at Southampton.  

Cheltenham Town, known as 'The Robins', was founded in 1887 and played its football in the Southern League until joining the Football Conference in 1997.  In their two seasons there they finished as runners-up and then Champions so gaining promotion to the Football League at the end of season 1998 - 99 under manager, Steve Cotterill. 

Cheltenham have maintained their League status since then and finished eighth in their first season in the Football League.  After three seasons they won promotion but Cotterill left to become manager of Stoke City.  They were immediately relegated after just one season in Division 1 and their pattern of League promotions/relegations has taken on a three year pattern - winning promotion after three years followed by relegation to Division 2 three years later.  Currently, after another three years, they are second in League 2 and in perfect position for another promotion.

Cheltenham are managed by Mark Yates who replaced Martin Allen three years ago.  Their season didn't start in the best way with a defeat at Gillingham.  They then lost to MK Dons in the Carling Cup but had their first win of the season at home to local rivals, Swindon Town.  They lost their next home match to Morecambe before winning at Northampton Town and inflicting the first League defeat of newly promoted and current League Two leaders, Crawley Town at their Abbey Business Stadium, Whaddon Road ground.

They are now a point behind Crawley at the top of League 2 having won 11 of their last 15 games with nine wins in their last 10 away matches and a 2 - 1 win at Port Vale last Monday when Alan Bennett and Brian Smikle scored in the second half.  With such a record Cheltenham will come to White Hart Lane with a confidence in their play.  On their last visit to North London in mid-December, they drew 2 - 2 with Barnet.  A Kaid Mohamed goal and a Duffy penalty gave them a goal advantage at the interval but Barnet drew level with a second half penalty.

"A Mix of experience and youth"

As Mark Yates admits himself, his team has "one or two experienced campaigners who will enjoy the game and a couple of younger players who will have the chance to show what they're about.' 

Scott Brown joined Cheltenham in 2005 and has over 140 League appearances for them. He started at the Wolves Academy but failed to make the breakthrough and moved to non-League football and arrived at Cheltenham as understudy but has now made the position his own.

They are captained by defender Alan Bennett who has two caps for the Republic of Ireland.  He made over 160 appearances for Cork City in the League of Ireland before moving into football in England.  He joined Reading in 2007 but didn't play for them and played last season with Wycombe Wanderers and joined Cheltenham in 2011.

Steve Elliott is another experienced defender who had six seasons with Bristol Rovers and over 200 appearances.  He signed for "the Robins' in 2010.

Cheltenham's leading goalscorer is Darryl Duffy.  He is a Scotland 'B' international and started his career with Glasgow Rangers, playing once.  He moved to Falkirk and into England with Hull, Swansea and Bristol Rovers, before joining Cheltenham in 2011.  He has scored 11 goals this season - 7 in the League, 2 FA Cup goals and 2 others.  

James Spencer has 7 goals with 6 in the Leagie and 1 other.  He is on loan from Huddersfield Town for the season.

Kaid Mohamed has scored 6 league goals and plays on the wing or as a striker.  He started in Welsh football before joining Swindon Town.  Last season he helped AFC Wimbledon win promotion to the Football League and joined Cheltenham in the summer.

Jeff Gouding has five goals with 4 in the league and one other.  He had considerable non-League experience before spending two seasons with Bournemouth and joined Cheltenham in June, 2010.

Luke Garbutt is a young defender who has been on loan from Everton and has represented England at age groups up to Under-19 level.

FA Cup Road to White Hart Lane
Cheltenham's visit to London is their third away tie in this season's FA Cup.  

They started off by defeating Tranmere Rovers 1 - 0  in the 1st Round with a first half penalty scored by Duffy.  

They then overcame non-League Luton Town by 4 - 2  in the next round.  Duffy gave Cheltenham the perfect start with a goal after two minutes.  Luton equalised five minutes before the interval but Cheltenham snatched the lead on the half-time whistle through Marlon Pack.  Luton drew level again early in the second half but two further goals from Luke Summerfield after 64 minutes and one in added time from Russell Penn ensured their progress to the FA Cup 3rd Round draw.

Former Spurs players and Cheltenham
David Hutton joined the Tottenham Academy in 2006–07 and in March 2009, he went on loan to Cheltenham Town and made his league debut against Leyton Orient.  Hutton's first league and Cheltenham goal came on 10 April 2009 in a 1–1 draw at Peterborough United.

He signed for Cheltenham that summer on a one-year deal but was released by the club the following year.  After a brief spell with St. Albams City he signed with Glenn Hoddle's team in Spain, Jerez Industrial.  He is currently playing for Borehamwood.

Sam Cox had a month with Cheltenham on loan from Spurs in 2009.  He came through the Spurs Academy, playing in midfield or defence, but after further periods out on loan he was released in June, 2010 and joined Barnet.  He is currently on loan with Borehamwood.

Harry Redknapp has shown little appetite for Cup football since his arrival at White Hart Lane and once again has the League and Champions League qualification as his first ambition.  He will be looking to rest many of his experienced players who have had a busy fortnight with the holiday matches and he will be wanting all of them available for next Wednesday's game with Everton and the crucial matches through January.  With injuries taking their toll to squad players, Vedran Corluka and Sandro, it could be quite an inexperienced side which plays against Cheltenham.  Some of the younger players who played in the Europa League have gone out on loan already, Andros Townsend and Harry Kane, so they are not available either.  Michael Dawson and Aaron Lennon may return after injury which would bring much needed experience and whatever team plays, they should have enough experience to overcome the threat presented by Cheltenham.

Tottenham and the FA Cup (3rd Round)

Spurs and the FA Cup 3rd Round 
[Article first appeared on Topspurs]

Gary Mabbutt FA Cup winning Captain

The first Saturday in January and the FA Cup 3rd Round go together hand in hand and has always been a special day in the football calendar.  The Final in May is a memorable occasion for two clubs and their fans but 3rd Round day includes everyone.  The excitement would have started a few weeks earlier when the draw was made on a Monday lunch-time in early December – there was so much more tension listening on the radio as the reporter entered the inner sanctuary of FA headquarters than there is now with former players trying to put on a show.  Then on 3rd Round Saturday as it used to be, there was the excitement of scouring the papers to see if any of the journalists would tip your team for success at Wembley and there was always a new sense of expectation and hope for every fan as they truly believed that, no matter how poorly their team had performed over the first five months of the season, that ‘this could be the year’ when their team would win the Cup.

The 3rd Round weekend reminds us of the true romance of football – the Premier League clubs finding it uncomfortable when visiting some of the less well off teams, the opportunity for the ‘giant-killers’ to have their day or a player returning to a former club to show what he could have done had he not been released. All the ingredients are there and they’ll be put into the mix again this weekend.

Incredibly, Spurs last won the FA Cup in 1991.  The images are also still so vivid in the memory that it’s hard to believe it is so long ago - Gazza and his free-kick in the semi-final at Wembley, followed by his celebrations after the win over Arsenal and then his self-inflicted injury in the Final before it all turned out right on the day with Gary Mabbutt lifting the Cup.  On that Saturday in May, Spurs were collecting the trophy for the record equalling eighth time, drawing level with Manchester United for the record number of wins and Spurs’ reputation as a ‘Cup’ team was further enhanced.  Now they are third on that list behind United and Arsenal.

However, it had only been in the previous thirty years that Spurs had acquired that reputation – in the first seventy eight years since their formation they had only won the Cup twice, as a non-league side in 1901 and twenty years later having just escaped the 2nd Division the previous summer.  At the start of the 1950s, Arthur Rowe’s ‘Push and Run’ team won the 2nd and 1st Division championships in consecutive seasons but the fans clamoured for the cherry on the top of the cake, an FA Cup success – but it wasn’t to be.

A team that wins the Cup will have its moments of good fortune and often they can occur in that very early round.  In Spurs’ last Cup win in 1991 the 3rd Round tie was a game made for a Cup shock. Spurs who were having an indifferent season were drawn away to 4th Division Blackpool.  To make matters worse the game was played in extremely stormy conditions and there had been doubts over whether the game would even take place.  Spurs were not known for handling such a tricky situation but they showed determination and character.  They managed to overcome the weather and Blackpool with a goal from the former Blackpool player, Paul Stewart.  It was to everyone’s relief that they had safely negotiated the first hurdle on a possible road to Wembley.

In 1901, the 3rd Round equivalent was the 1st Round and the match wasn’t played until early February due to the death of Queen Victoria.  Spurs were defending Southern League Champions and their first opponents were the might of the 1st Division, Preston North End, the team they had so admired that they had adopted their colours two seasons previously and who had defeated them in the same round a year earlier.  Having lost at Preston the previous year, Spurs were hoping for revenge but when the visitors took the lead midway through the first half the prospects were not looking good. Spurs increased the pressure in the second half but the Preston goalkeeper played exceptionally well to deny them until nine minutes from time when Sandy Brown equalised.  The return of inside forward David Copeland, the previous season’s inspiration, from long term injury just prior to this game, had been a great boost to the team and they set out for the replay at Preston with another injured player returning, captain John Jones.  In the replay Spurs looked a different side going ahead through Copeland and Brown then added another two before the interval.  Preston pulled a goal back but Brown completed his hat-trick and although Preston scored again, Spurs were safely through to the next round – the giant-killers were on their way.

Twenty years later, following promotion, Spurs, after a disappointing start to the season, were coping well in the 1st Division.  Their first game in the FA Cup (1st Round) saw them drawn at home to Bristol Rovers who were in the 3rd Division, their first season in the Football League. The two clubs had met at Bristol the previous year at the same stage of the competition.  Spurs won 4-1 on that occasion and this again turned out to be one of Spurs’ easiest opening rounds – they were one up after four minutes and four ahead by half-time, ensuring a comfortable victory.  Having taken an early lead through Jimmy Seed they added to it with a Tommy Clay penalty.  Goals from Bert Smith and Fanny Walden gave them a 4 – 0 lead by half-time.  Rovers scored early in the second half, before Jimmy Cantrell scored and then after Rovers’ second, Bert Bliss added a late sixth.  These names were to become part of the illustrious history of Spurs.

Over the next forty years Spurs reached the semi-finals on a number of occasions but always fell short and so it was not until the ‘Double’ year that Spurs managed to get to another Final.  On that occasion in 1961 their 3rd Round opponents were Charlton Athletic from the 2nd Division.   As Spurs were well ahead at the top of the 1st Division, this game was regarded as a formality but Charlton had other ideas and made the mighty Spurs fight all the way.  It took two goals from Les Allen and one from Terry Dyson for Spurs to come through with a 3-2 success.

The following year as Cup holders Spurs were drawn to play 1st Division opponents, Birmingham City at St. Andrews.  It was a very difficult tie on a pitch that had been covered in snow for much of the previous week.  Spurs took a three goal lead by the 32nd minute. However Birmingham fought their way back into the game by scoring a minute later and then equalized with two second half goals. The ‘Double’ winning team of the previous season had been strengthened by the signing of Jimmy Greaves who scored the first and third goals, the second a header, with Cliff Jones scoring the second. Spurs won the replay 4 – 2, with goals from Terry Medwin (2), Greaves and Les Allen.

The opening to the 1966-67 had seen little of note or any sign of impending success but then in mid-January Spurs struck a rich vein of form which took them all the way to Wembley.  Spurs 3rd Round opponents made it very difficult for them at The Den.  Millwall were in the 2nd Division and it was a typical Cup-tie and Spurs were glad of a number of saves from Pat Jennings to foil the home side and with relief escaped back to White Hart Lane with a scoreless draw. The only goal in the following Wednesday’s replay was scored by Alan Gilzean.

In similar fashion, the 1980-81 season had proceeded through the opening months with little of note when Spurs were faced with a 3rd Round game at Loftus Road against Queen’s Park Rangers.  After what was called a ‘sterile’ contest ended in a scoreless draw against the 2nd Division side, few would have expected Spurs to make much progress in the competition.  Spurs won 3-1 in the replay with the goals scored by Tony Galvin, Glenn Hoddle and Garth Crooks.

It was different twelve months later as it was a season when Spurs were striving for trophies in four competitions. Also the 3rd Round game had so much extra importance as Spurs as Cup holders were given the tie of the round – at home to North London neighbours, Arsenal.  The two clubs had only met on one previous occasion in the FA Cup, Arsenal having won 3-0 in a 3rd Round game at Highbury in 1949.

A crowd of 38,421 watched a match that was settled by a Garth Crooks goal which went under the body of former Spurs goalkeeper, Pat Jennings.  That unusual mistake was only part of Jennings’ misery that day as an injury saw him substituted later in the game.

The romance of the FA Cup came to White Hart Lane in 1993 when Spurs were drawn against non-League Marlow Town in the 3rd Round.   The game should have been at Marlow but the club agreed to play at White Hart Lane to increase their financial wind-fall from the 26,636 spectators in attendance.  Marlow performed well but were beaten by goals from nicky Barmby (2), Vinny Samways (2) and Teddy Sheringham.  However, the biggest cheer of the afternoon was reserved for the Marlow Town scorer who got his team's thoroughly deserved consolation goal a few minutes from the end.

Another non-League opponent was Margate in 1973. The UEFA Cup holders having been to the vast San Siro Stadium to play AC Milan the previous spring had to adapt to the closeness of the Margate ground but ran out easy winners through goals from Cyril Knowles, Martin Peters, Martin Chivers (2), John Pratt and Jimmy Pearce.

Not all 3rd Round games have been so fortuitous for Spurs, six year's ago they contrived to lose a two goal lead at Leicester City at a time when the home side hadn’t won in seven games and had been goal-less in the previous three.  Two seasons earlier, the players capitulated at Southampton and lost by four goals, demonstrating the level to which the club had sunk in those Hoddle times.

In 1999 Spurs departed the FA Cup before Christmas.  The 3rd Round ties were played in December and after drawing 1-1 at home with Newcastle United, they lost the replay 1-6 so Spurs didn’t play an FA Cup game in the year 2000.  Thankfully, the authorities returned the 3rd Round games to their rightful place at the beginning of January.

Neither have they avoided the embarrassment of suffering at the hands of lower level teams – in 1923 in the 1st Round Spurs were drawn at home to Worksop Town, a team from the Midland League. Spurs - Cup winners in 1921, semi-finalists in the Cup and runners up in the League in 1922 and with six members of the Cup winning team still playing - failed to score and overcome determined opposition.  Wintry weather conditions made the pitch difficult to play on but the non-League team showed determination and bravery to earn their place in Cup history.  The Worksop ground was thought unsuitable for the replay and Spurs readily agreed to play it at White Hart Lane.  So, on the Monday after the first game, Worksop sent out the same eleven players to face Spurs.  Relieved at having an opportunity to put things right, Spurs won 9-0.  Playing conditions had improved and Spurs were six up by half-time.  Their goals were scored by Alec Lindsay (4), ‘Tich’ Handley (3), Jimmy Seed and Jimmy Dimmock.

More recently, in 1953 Spurs met Tranmere Rovers, a mid-table team in the Third Division North and they held Spurs to a 1-1 draw at home.  The replay was a different matter as Spurs won 9-1 through goals from Sid McClellan (3), Len Duquemin (2),  Roy Hollis (2) and EddieBaily (2).  The successful team of the early 1950s had not made any impact in the F.A. Cup and many thought that this could be their year but after nine games, including four replays, having scored 21 goals, Spurs failed in their fifth semi-final.

In 1979, Keith Burkinshaw’s side suffered a similar fate as they drew 1-1 with non-League Altrincham at White Hart Lane.  The goal scored by Peter Taylor from the penalty spot enabled them to try again at Maine Road where the replay was played.  This time a Colin Lee hat-trick saw Spurs into the next round.

In 1993-94 Spurs were grateful for penalties as they defeated Peterborough United at home after two 1-1 draws. Spurs held their nerve and scored all five penalties.

Other memorable 3rd Round ties were games against Manchester United.  In 1968 a difficult 3rd Round tie at Old Trafford saw Spurs earn a replay in a thrilling action-packed game through a last minute equalizer from Martin Chivers.  Mike England returned, having been out for two months with injury but Jimmy Greaves was left out and Phil Beal played as an extra defender.  Chivers scored for Spurs after four minutes but United equalized within two minutes.  Half way through the second half, United took a lead which they looked like holding until Chivers’ last minute strike.  The replay was a very tight and combative affair.  Jimmy Greaves was re-instated to the Spurs team but the match remained scoreless after ninety minutes.  Meeting four days after the original match, some old scores had to be settled and in the second half Joe Kinnear and Brian Kidd were sent off for a tussle in the Spurs penalty area.  In extra time the match was settled by a disputed goal from winger, Jimmy Robertson – United players felt that England had impeded their goalkeeper.

In January, 1980 Spurs and United had drawn 1-1 at Tottenham in the 3rd Round, Ossie Ardiles scoring, but Spurs progressed the hard way.  The replay was scoreless, in spite of Glenn Hoddle having to take over in goal for the injured Aleksic.  Hoddle played confidently and as extra time was drawing to a close, Ossie Ardiles managed to summon a last ounce of energy to score the winner. Spurs, under Keith Burkinshaw, were now beginning to re-establish themselves in the 1st Division although further Cup success would have to wait for another season ending in ‘1’.

The FA Cup 3rd Round memories are endless, so perhaps it’s time for Spurs to rekindle their love affair with the competition and make a successful trip to the Final at Wembley.  The 3rd Round games are so much more memorable when there’s a winning Final at the end of all the effort.

‘Spurs are on their way to Wembley’