| Match report
A seven goal haul was nothing
less than a fair reflection of the FA Cup Third Round tie at
Tranmere Rovers, who neither put up a solid defence (espceially
after the 40th minute) nor went for it, rarely troubling Paulo
Gazzaniga in the Spurs goal.
The start of the game saw
Tranmere putting in a lot of effort to close Spurs down, but an
early corner won by Kyle Walker-Peters almost dropped for Lucas
Moura, but he couldn’t bring the ball down. A loose pass by Rovers
captain Steve McNulty saw Llorente intercept and Son was away, but
with a straight run on goal through the middle, he shot low and the
keeper stopped the ball with his legs. It was a chance Sonny should
have taken, as he has done so often recently from more difficult
angles. That was after six minutes and six minutes later, Juan Foyth
won the ball with a tackle pressing high into the Tranmere half,
playing it to Son, just inside him on the right touchline. The
Korean picked out an unmarked Moura around the penalty spot, but he
hit a weak shot straight into the keeper from close range.
Tottenham’s pressing was putting the home side under pressure and a
push on Son won a free-kick that Davies swung in, but Llorente
couldn’t reach as McNulty dragged him down by pulling his shirt.
The Rovers captain cleared it and when it dropped to Ben Davies
again, he teed himself up for a hip high volley and his 25- yard
effort was well saved by the keeper with a low dive. Tranmere
eventually got a hold on the ball for a while and then forged
forward, Skipp half-cleared, Foyth headed it out, but Connor
Jennings was underneath it and hit a shot that was blocked. That was
after 25 minutes and then Norwood was released into the left hand
side of the box, but he chose to try and shoot for the near post
instead of picking out a man in the middle, firing it behind the
goal in the process.
Just before the half hour
Ellis made a good challenge as Moura looked to break into the box
and when Davies swung the ball into the middle of the box, Llorente
met it on the turn and his volley flew a couple of feet over the
crossbar. Foyth hit a low grubber of a shot long the ground, before
Aurier gave away a corner in the 34th minute. The big men came
forward for Tranmere and when the ball came in, it was headed out
for another corner. This time it found Monte after Aurier slipped
and his free header was grabbed above his head by Gazzaniga.
Spurs worked the ball down the left wing and when it went into the
box, a poor clearance did find Norwood outside his own box, but
Aurier won it, the ball came back to him off Foyth and from 25 yards
out his shot from the middle of the pitch swerved away from Scott
Davies, possibly with a deflection off Monthe. A goal five minutes
before half time was probably earned on the balance of play, but
Tranmere had been blocking their way by getting a lot of players
back behind the ball.
In added time, a Tranmere corner cleared everyone and Spurs looked
to break, but KWP was brought down as he looked to go further
forward. It was the last thing before the half-time whistle blew and
the teams trooped off in front of a mainly quiet crowd.
The second half started with Spurs on the front foot, but when Foyth
slipped, his pitch level header while on the floor, set Dele away
and he freed Son on the right. Beating his man, he pulled the
ball back low to the far post and Fernando Llorente was there to
shoot into an empty net for 2-0. It was intelligent play by Son, who
took out three players with his cross.
Tranmere tried to hit back and won some throw-ins and corners.
Monthe won one header from a throw and it dropped in the middle of
the goal for Gilmour, whose shot was deflected over the bar off
Aurier. However, Spurs broke from a throw when Gazzaniga took the
ball above Monthe and his kick freed Moura. His touch took him round
the sizeable figure of McNulty and went to round Davies but the
keeper just got a touch on the ball, with a rash challenge felling
Moura. It mattered little, because Son was put in through the
middle, but waited for Aurier to get into space outside him and from
inside the box, he drove the ball past the goalie and Ellis on the
line couldn’t sort his feet out to keep the ball out on the line.
It was 4-0 shortly afterwards when Son received the ball five yards
inside his own half and ran at the retreating defenders into their
box before slipping a left foot shot across the keeper to make the
game more or less safe with 56 minutes gone.
Rovers hoped to get something out of the game, with Gilmour unable
to control the ball on the edge of the Spurs box, but substitute
Banks struck a 25 yarder on the follow-up straight at
Gazzaniga. Caprice got free on the right wing, but when he
reached the box, the defender hit a shot that went across Paulo, but
went well wide. Poch took the opportunity to rest Son and
bring on George Marsh for his debut. However, it was the other
youngster Oliver Skipp who produced a peach of a pass straight
through the middle of the pitch to Llorente, who took the ball with
his left foot and then shot across the keeper to score his second
goal of the night. That became a hat-trick just 66 seconds later,
finding a prod home at the near post to Lucas’ low left wing cross.
It is a competition that Fernando seems to enjoy !!
Llorente and Dele played passes between them from halfway to the
edge of the box, where Dele fired a shot over, when he should have
worked the keeper. It was Llorente’s chance to leave the pitch to an
ovation for his hat-trick when Harry Kane came on. He was joined by
TJ Eyoma – another debutant – with 11 minutes to go, as Davinson was
taken off. It didn’t take long for Harry to get on the
score-sheet. Dele had been seeing a lot of the ball and on the
left-hand side, he played the ball into the box and Kane let it run
while he sorted his feet out to flick it over Davies as he came out
with his right boot.
When Tranmere tried to go up the pitch, their passing was poor and
they had been given the run-around by Spurs, who used the ball well
and tried to set up Aurier for his hat-trick goal. However, when
Kane laid it into his path struck it wildly wide with his left foot.
He did better with his right foot, but a white shirt got in the way.
Banks was trying to show he can show his skills, but when he stamped
down on Skipp’s shin he was lucky to get away with a yellow card.
Moura fired a shot over from just outside the box and the referee
mercifully added only one minute of added time to let Tranmere
escape any further punishment.
It was a totally professional performance that included some
clinical finishing and it came with no injuries, which can easily
happen in matches like this. The control exercised over the
opposition, even during the first half, when Tranmere were quite
dogged in their defending, was impressive and the side showed
patience in creating their chances, rather than just shooting
without any thought for who was around them. The introduction of
Marsh and Eyoma to join Skipp on the pitch gives them great
encouragement that if they work hard, then they will get their
chance in the first team.
Putting Tranmere to the
sword will mean little in the long run other than an entry in the
Tottenham Hotspur record books as the biggest ever away win, but the
important thing will be who Spurs draw in the Fourth Round and
where. Maybe the new White Hart Lane ?
Peter
Ashingdon |
