| Never ones to do things the
easy way, Spurs kept the fans on the edge of their seats until the 122nd
minute, when the whistle blew on this well earned away win in the League
Cup.
Featuring a similarly altered team to the
one that turned out in the last round, Santini saw his side go
(relatively) goal crazy for the second time in this competition.
Ten goals in two ties against five goals in ten league games shows that
the team can score goals and maybe the system will open up in an attempt
to go for it in games rather than to wait and see what might happen.
In this game at Bolton, there could
easily have been a hatful more, with so many opportunities to wrap the
tie up in extra time going unclaimed, that Bolton still had a chance
right up until the end when they should have been dead and buried.
However, starting at the beginning, Spurs
seemed a little on the back foot to start with; maybe as a result of
Saturday's result. Kevin Davies' early header was caught by
Keller, having a run out for a change, while Spurs hit back with a Davis
shot that was way over and a corner that Simon Davies hit to nobody in
particular at the near post. But Bolton were finding space in and
around the Tottenham box, with Davies hitting a shot at Keller and
Pedersen hitting an effort over the top, while some dangerous balls were
being played into the area from wide positions too.
After wasting a couple of shooting
opportunities, Bolton made the breakthrough. A foul by Naybet on
Pedersen on the left wing, resulted in Hierro firing in a swinging
free-kick at pace towards Keller. Pedersen, Ben Haim and Ledley
King were all in for it, but it was the Spurs captain who got he last
touch that took the ball past Kasey for Bolton's lead to be
established. Tottenham needed to keep things tight for a while and
restricted the home side to long shots from Hierro (saved by KK) and
Pedersen (blocked by Naybet) before finally getting veteran Poole in the
Bolton goal to work, having to save Kanoute's header in the 39th
minute. Then, almost on the stroke of half-time, Pedro Mendes fed
the ball up to Jermain Defoe, who turned and shot into the corner of the
net to put Spurs on equal terms as they went in for their oranges.
What was to come could hardly have been
imagined at this stage. Tottenham came out and had Poole punching
at a Ziegler corner early on, then Naybet skied a shot over the top from
about 18 yards out. Hierro was still trying his luck from distance
and was still finding it difficult to keep the ball down, with team-mate
Ben Haim copying him with a header from a corner. Spurs were
making it difficult for the Trotters with a straight back line catching
the Bolton forwards offside and when they did break through Keller twice
denied the hero of Saturday -Pedersen and Hierro got another wide of the
mark.
Spurs switched Kanoute for Keane and
Stelios replaced the niggly Nolan before Pedersen skied a low ball in
from the wing on 73 minutes from just six yards out. It was a
great chance and perhaps Spurs were still counting their blessings when
a ball into the box saw Bunjy grab a handful of Kevin Davies' shirt
leaving Okocha to bury the penalty low past Keller's despairing dive.
Santini decide to bring on Michael Brown
for Simon Davies and it proved a shrewd move. Even though
Allardyce tried to counter this by bringing on Les Ferdinand, in the
84th minute Keane swung a ball out away from Poole via King's head and
it found Bunjy running in to volley his second goal in this competition
to give Spurs a second equaliser from six yards out.
The two sides traded efforts to find a
late winner, but the whistle marked the end of normal time with the
score standing at 2-2. The team-talks delivered on the pitch
worryingly saw Spurs sitting down on the turf, while Bolton, to a man,
stood up, perhaps indicating they had more left in them.
Starting extra time, Okocha fired in a
long range shot that missed left and Brown found space to put his head
on the end of a free-kick, but he could not convert it. It was
only a momentary delay, as the next free-kick that came along a minute
later was floated in by Carrick and Brown this time got his header down
past Poole from five yards out.
On 95 minutes Ricardo Gardner thought he
would try his luck from a long way out, but missed the target, while in
Tottenham's next attack, Ziegler saw Pool slightly off his line and
drilled in a dipping effort that just cleared the crossbar.
Jay-Jay was still going for the outrageous too, but Bunjevcevic's block
kept him out until, in the 105th minute (the last of the first period),
Spurs opened up a two goal lead.
Hunt, who had been stroppily going
about his game all night, attempted a pass that hit Robbie Keane and
fell to Defoe. In the middle of the goal about 18 yards out,
Jermain doesn't need to be asked twice what to do and he doubled his
tally for this match to put Tottenham 4-2 up. And that should have
been that, but before the ref could blow his whistle for the half-way
point in extra time, Les Ferdinand had come back to haunt Spurs a few
days before Halloween. Heading in Stelios' left wing cross left
Spurs still with some work to do.
The second fifteen minutes produced some
nervy moments. Naybet blocking Kaku's volley and two Keller saves
from Ferdinand in quick succession, before Robbie Keane and Jermain
Defoe decided that they would go for goal alone when the other was free,
thus missing the chance and missing the chance of wrapping the tie up
for good. But that was with 120 minutes on the clock and Pedersen
had already failed to convert another low cross, leaving his moment of
glory for the final knockings when his cross had Keller back-pedalling,
but he held on under pressure from Diouf, who knocked him into the net
for a foul.
With time still being played two minutes
after the 120 were up, a long cross arrowed in on the Dane's head and
Keller clutched the ball and then it was finally all over.
All this, just to get to the Fourth Round
fo the League Cup, where we will travel to the same part of the world
for a third time to play Burnley.
More goals ? More nervous moments
? More success in this competition ?
It is all starting to be like a thrilling rollercoaster in this
"Mickey Mouse" cup, but it might mean a lot to us if we can
get over the highs and lows to reach the end.
MEHSTG TOP MAN : - RETO ZIEGLER
|
Bolton Wanderers
(Away)
