Tuesday 5th February 2002, 7.45pm

FA Cup, 4th Round, WHITE HART LANE

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 4

(Anderton pen 21, Iversen 35, Etherington 56, Barness og 72)

Sullivan
King
Richards
Thatcher
Taricco (Thelwell 75)
Anderton (Leonhardsen 75)
Sherwood
Etherington
Poyet
Iversen
Rebrov

Subs not used: Keller, Sheringham, Ferdinand

BOLTON WANDERERS 0

Jaaskelainen, Barness, Whitlow (Buchanan 45), Bergsson, Nolan (Johnson 64), Gardner, Southall, Farrelly, Hansen, Pedersen (Holdsworth 62), Ricketts. Subs not used: Poole, Norris.

Referee: - Steve Dunn, Bristol

Attendance: - 27,093

A great way to get the season back on track with a fine 4-0 win over Bolton, who have now gone down by an aggregate of 13-2 in their three visits to the Lane over the last two months. It was a doubly good day as it was a much weakened team that destroyed Bolton this time with suspension risks Sheringham, Perry and Ferdinand, joining the injured Davies and Gardner in sitting this one out and Treacle negotiating his 75 minutes without incident.

It was party time from the moment we saw that it was Perry’s turn to adorn the front of the programme, and although they searched long and hard for a photo that did not make him look vacant this is the best they could come up with for topspurs favourite Mr Ed.

While the club has been busy removing the contents of our wallets at every opportunity this season, it was good to see that the Chelsea 5-1 video was on sale at the Spurs shop for a tenner, and was being sold by the box load.

Thatcher stepped in as the left sided centre back for his second start of the season (a position my Wimbledon mate suggests is his best, albeit a modest best). This allowed King to play right centre back with Richards in the middle. Treacle swapped back to right wing back with Davies injured and Etherington came in for his first start for over a year.

Rebrov was finally given a chance up front for 90 minutes with Iversen

Mr Ed

Bolton lined up with their best players Ricketts and Nolan in the starting line up and although the rest of the team are modest at best, this looked to be a potentially tricky encounter on a cut up pitch  - well it did for the first 5 minutes anyway as Bolton looked the more assured side, as Spurs took time to settle with the new players coming in.

Things changed when the Bolton keeper Jaaskelainen – who was to have another outstanding night despite letting in four goals - pulled off a fine save from a Poyet shot, after good work down the left by Etherington.  After this it was one way traffic for the whole of the first half as Spurs poured forward on to the Park Lane goal.

From a long throw from Thatcher on the left, midway inside the Bolton half, Richards got a good flick on to Iversen who sent a decent header goalwards, but Jaaskelainen produced another good save to turn the ball for a corner. Great save but he really should have scored!

Spurs were playing fluently – Anderton was on his game with SGE watching from the stands (one assumes he was here for King & Anderton and not “will be playing for England once they move to a big club” Thatcher and Richards), Sherwood knitted together attack and defence and Poyet was more of a threat with no man marker to take him out of the game.

While Treacle was having a solid match on the right, it was Etherington that caused Bolton most of the first half problems. As with any player with pace, defenders are never sure what to do and he had Bolton on the back foot almost immediately, and it was not only his running which caught the eye, he also showed good vision in finding Spurs players. If there was one criticism, it was that he did not take on his defender enough, and did not go on the outside  - but that is for another day – and it was great to see him finally make the step up to looking the part in the first team.

From a good bit of play by Etherington, Spurs forwards were queuing up to score, but when the ball came to Rebrov, he could only head on to the roof of the net from 6 yards when he really should have scored. Rebrov had a decent match all in all and was a bit unlucky that the ball did not always reach him when he had taken up good positions in the box – and it must be said, he worked well together with Iversen.

Iversen – a man who must love White Hart Lane as he is next to useless away for Spurs – showed what a class striker he can be by taking a Rebrov layoff and thundering a 20 yarder from the right side of the box, which Jaaskelainen did well to turn for a corner.

 

Spurs were coasting and although good chances were missed the outcome was never really in much doubt even before Anderton was sent tumbling in the box by our old mate Barness as he ran onto Poyet’s through ball.

It was a clumsy challenge but a definite penalty.

 

Anderton grabbed the ball and smashed home his 45th goal for Spurs and his 6th in the FA Cup (all his goals have come in Spurs wins). 

 

Wave after wave of attacks followed and we nearly scored when Treacle intercepted a clearance and the ball broke to Poyet on the edge of the box. He crossed for Iversen who missed it, but a Bolton defender had to scramble the ball away as Rebrov charged in on the far post.

Etherington was put in the clear with an unopposed run at goal by a fine pass from Poyet, but another refereeing shocker saw fatty Dunn call back play as Rebrov had been fouled to book one of their cloggers – with no hint of advantage.

With no Sheringham around for the “extra” pass, Anderton had a trademark 25 yarder which fizzed just wide of the post. The second goal stemmed from Richards, who returned a Bolton clearance for Anderton to chase to the right by-line. Shaggy hooked the ball back and Iversen nipped in to flick the ball into the corner for 2-0.

Out of the blue Bolton scored a goal at the other end after good work by Ricketts, but the goal was ruled out for another offside.

From around the 40th to the 44th minute – Spurs had the ball – passing it in and around the Bolton half with a fluency borne out of the confidence of a two-goal lead. The multi pass move ended when Iversen flicked the ball from Anderton into the path of Poyet, who bundled the ball past his defender and with only the keeper to beat and a large area of goal to aim at, he placed his shot on to the post and the Bolton defenders cleared before Etherington could reach the rebound – what a goal that would have been.

At half time, it was how many and whom do we play in the 6th round?

Spurs continued where they left off in the second period.

 

We won a free kick 30 yards out on the right hand side of goal and I groaned when Anderton took a short one to Treacle (another dead ball wasted!), but Treacle picked out Anderton’s run into the box, and Shaggy hammered a great shot which brought another great save from Jaaskelainen, but Etherington was on hand to smash home the rebound for his first goal for Spurs.

 

It was only a year ago in an FA cup tie that fellow ex-posh player Simon Davies “arrived” with a cup double to see us on our way against Stockport and I hope Etherington, or Mushy as they used to call him at Peterborough, can follow in his footsteps.

With the game safe – we coasted much of the rest of the match – going close every now and then but basically just taking it nice and easy.

The fourth goal arrived courtesy of a quick bit of thinking from Hoddle, who reacted quickly when the ball went out of play and hit a perfect pass to Thatcher to take a quick throw, which sent Etherington away. Ethers sent over a good cross which caused panic in the Bolton box, with Barness and Gardner colliding as Barness hammered the ball home at the far post for his second Paxton end goal of the season, after also scoring the in the League cup match.

Bolton had a brighter 10 minutes at the end, and Sully produced a great save from a Gardner shot, which the ref did not even give for a corner – which summed up their luck at the Lane. Spurs fans sang “are you Chelsea in disguise”, while the 50 or so Bolton responded with “you only sing when you’re 4 up”

The last action of the night was a reminder of what Iversen can be as a forward, when he latched onto a through ball, before hammering a shot, which Jaaskelainen did brilliantly to save. Most of the time, Iversen resembles an out of touch park player, but moments like this, while they are few and far between (and never away from the Lane) remind us of what a talent he can be.

A good match for everyone – the away day Jonah finally saw Spurs play well and win convincingly and not least the bloke who sits two along from me who had £10 on Anderton for the first goal and Spurs to win 4-0 at 150/1

The Word of Hod

"It was a minefield this week with the possible suspensions for the three players who we have on four yellow cards, It was a very difficult decision what to do, but I wanted to try and get it right and be greedy by keeping those three safe and getting the win, and it has turned out very well.

"It was a very good performance from the team, we worked hard, passed the ball extremely well and were clinical - it could have been more. But you can't ask for more than that, a clean sheet and I am delighted to get through to a home tie against Tranmere."

Hoddle praised Anderton, who made his 300th appearance for the club in front of England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson. "Darren is at the very height of his form. He is 29 and at his peak. He is scoring goals and making goals, and he has such an engine in him that he can get back and also do the defensive side.

"All in all, in the modern day, he is a very good all-round player. He is working as hard as anyone and I want him to remain injury free and enjoy his football because he is a major asset for us. We have worked on a few physical things with him. He has buried that horrible 'sicknote' tag and it is wonderful to see him playing like he is.

Sullivan (6/10) – Thankfully recovered from injury and looks set to retain his place in front of Keller for the all important final at the end of the month. Did a great save at the end from Gardner

Thatcher (6/10) – Did ok and is useful as cover in the squad for a match like this

Richards (6/10) – Set up the second and did ok, without ever really being tested.

King (7/10) – What little Bolton did offer was snuffed out by the King & SGE must have been impressed

Taricco (6/10) – Managed to negotiate the match with out a card and should be ok for the final now. Did his bit at right wing back

Etherington (7/10) – Had a good match tormenting Bolton down the left and scoring a cracking goal to make the tie safe.

Anderton (7/10) – Had a fine game – scored one, set up two and was influential in all of our good play

Sherwood (6/10) – A good solid match in midfield.

Poyet (6/10) – Had a decent match away from a constant man marker and was unlucky not to cap a great move by scoring in the first half.

Iversen (7/10) – Had a good match – a goal and many other good attempts as well as linking up play from the front.

Rebrov (6/10) – Had a good match and was involved in much of our good play. Should have scored in the first half but was unlucky at other times not to receive the ball in good positions.

Subs:

Leonhardsen (6/10) – Did ok

Thelwell (6/10) –Did ok

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