Tottenham avoid FA Cup shock after non-League Tamworth take them to the brink
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Tottenham Hotspur's Dominic Solanke and Lucas Bergvall celebrate their first goal, an own goal scored by Tamworth's Nathan Tshikuna.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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LONDON – Tottenham Hotspur narrowly avoided FA Cup embarrassment against non-league Tamworth on Jan 12, as they needed extra time before securing a 3-0 third-round win.
Ange Postecoglou’s side, 12th in the English Premier League, are 96 places above Tamworth, who sit 16th in the fifth-tier National League.
But the gap in quality was rarely apparent as Spurs’ dismal display at The Lamb Ground took them to the brink of a historic humiliation.
Tamworth should have caused one of the FA Cup’s greatest upsets in regulation but their missed chances proved crucial.
Nathan Tshikuna’s extra-time own goal and strikes from Dejan Kulusevski and Brennan Johnson sent Tottenham into the fourth round.
“As far as I’m aware, we’re through to the next round, that was the objective,” insisted Postecoglou.
“It was a challenging game, as we expected it to be. Credit to Tamworth, they made it hard for us.
“With the surface, it was always going to be a matter of us staying calm, being persistent in our football. We had a couple of chances we should’ve done better with but in the end we got the job done.”
Tottenham last won a major trophy in 2008, but the under-fire Postecoglou boasts that he always wins silverware in his second season at a club.
Having beaten Liverpool 1-0 in the League Cup semi-final, first leg in midweek, Spurs remain in contention for a domestic Cup double. But they will have to improve significantly on their latest underwhelming performance.
Tamworth are a part-time team whose players work day jobs alongside their football careers and train only twice a week. Yet they matched their highly paid and supposedly superior opponents for long periods of a classic FA Cup tie.
It was something of a culture shock for Tottenham to swop the plush arenas of the Premier League for Tamworth’s modest 4,000-capacity stadium with a sloping artificial pitch.
Fans waved tinfoil replicas of the FA Cup, while locals who did not buy a ticket were able to peer over the garden walls of houses that backed onto the stadium.
The ramshackle vibe was summed up when kick-off was delayed by a hole in one of the goal nets, with Tamworth’s Beck-Ray Enoru fixing the problem by climbing on the shoulders of his teammate.
Tamworth’s Snowdome – a notable local attraction featuring ski slopes – loomed in the distance behind the stadium, but on a freezing, frosty afternoon, it was Tottenham who had trouble keeping their feet.
The non-league outfit should have been ahead in the opening seconds as Enoru raced through the static Tottenham defence and unloaded a powerful effort that forced a good save from Antonin Kinsky.
Tom Tonks’ massive long throws caused problems for Tottenham’s lethargic defence and Tamworth went close three times in the final minutes.
Jordan Cullinane-Liburd headed just wide before Tom McGlinchey’s shot was blocked and Cullinane-Liburd was denied by Kinsky.
Tottenham were only the fourth Premier League side since 1992-93 to be taken to extra time in an FA Cup game against a non-league club.
Their 101st-minute breakthrough was in keeping with their scrappy performance, as Johnson’s cross deflected in off Tshikuna as he tried to stop Dominic Solanke making contact.
Kulusevski killed off plucky Tamworth six minutes later, and there was still time for Johnson to put a flattering gloss on the score for Tottenham with a clinical finish in the 118th minute.
“We have to be proud,” said Tamworth goalkeeper Jas Singh.
“They didn’t fancy it as long as the game went on, and had to bring on the big boys.” AFP
