Tuesday 11th December 2001, 7.45pm

League Cup, QuarterFinal, WHITE HART LANE

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 6  

(Davies 20, Ferdinand 29,30,38, Barness og 79, Iversen 84)

Sullivan
King
Perry
Gardner
Davies
Freund
Anderton
Taricco
Poyet (Sherwood 75)
Sheringham (Iversen 64)
Ferdinand  (Rebrov 45)

Subs not used: Keller, Thatcher

BOLTON WANDERERS 0

 

Referee: - G Barber

Attendance: - 28,340

 

Spurs thumped Bolton 6-0 to cruise into the Semi Finals of the League Cup against a weakened Bolton team that were a shadow of the team that gave Spurs such a good run in the league just over a week ago. Why Bolton chose to give up any chance of a major final is beyond me and I’m sure all of the fans and many of the players will be unhappy at this decision – but that should not take anything away from a good Spurs performance capped by a first half hatrick of headers from Les Ferdinand in the space of 9 minutes.

Since the weekend, much of the optimism about the season had been tested by the Charlton defeat, the ordinary FA Cup draw and a few injuries and suspensions some of which were revealing the real depth of the squad.

I also had information that Teddy Sheringham would be missing, and although I heard of Sam Allerdyce’s plans to rest his best players, I did not actually believe he would do it, and approached the match in an apprehensive manner.

My mood of optimism changed almost as soon as I took my seat – there was Teddy, while the away section was virtually empty – literally only about 50 Bolton fans. I was also delighted to see Ant Gardner – looking even taller – returning to first team action for the first time since the last match of last season in place of the cup tied Richards. Other than Ferdinand coming in for Rebrov and Freund for Bunjevcevic, it was the same line up as Charlton.

Spurs, attacking the Park Lane in the first half on a freezing evening, should have scored after 15 seconds when Treacle found Sheringham alone on the edge of the box. Ted managed to get the ball under his feet and could only poke out a weak shot as he was eventually challenged. That confirmed what I had hoped but could not dare to believe was true  - this was going to be a stroll for Spurs.

It took Spurs 20 minutes to get on the score sheet primarily as a result of the flowing football we were playing encouraging the forwards to over-elaborate rather than get a shot in. If you accept all the goodness of Teddy into your life this is just one of the sometimes maddening things you have to accept!

If I tried to describe every chance we had the match report will resemble War and Peace in length. Just about everyone in the team played well tonight and it was noticeable how well our wing backs played – running at Bolton at every opportunity – something that was missing at Charlton.

The game was played in an odd atmosphere – the Park Lane were again in good voice but the game had the feeling of an early European match against a crap side – no away fans and a team of moderate foreigners about to get a good battering.

The first goal came from a cross from the left and a nod down from Ferdinand set up Davies from the edge of the box. Like the winner against Fulham in the previous round, the ball flew into the net without giving the unsighted keeper a chance to dive. As I have mentioned before – Davies goals to shots ratio must be excellent as rarely misses when presented with a half decent chance as 7 goals in 32 appearances testifies.

After the goal and Bolton not managing to get out of their own half, it was a question of how many. Around the half hour mark, Sir Les stole the show with three headers for his second Spurs hatrick.

(1)A long throw from Davies was headed on first by Ledley and then Sheringham to allow Les to nip in at the back post to nod home from close range. Easy!

(2)Within a minute it was three – a cross from the right by Anderton was met on the half volley by Ferdinand’s diving forehead as he nipped in between defender and goalkeeper.

(3)The hatrick was complete soon after when Anderton sent Davies down the right and his deep cross was met by Ferdinand with a header back into the far corner.

Perhaps the best moment of the match was when the scoreboard flashed up “Les Ferdinand – the best in the land” and then followed up with the score from Ewood Park – Blackburn 3-0 Arsenal – our joy was complete!

Bolton saved a little face in the second half, but it was more Spurs coasting. Rebrov had replaced Les and looked lively without getting any real chances.

Sheringham got a standing ovation as he left the field to be replaced by Iversen – getting a rare go as a proper striker on the hour and I’d forgotten how much I loved Poyet who again had a good match, when I saw he was to be replaced by Sherwood – a shop window measure only! So in effect – “the pensioner strikers” all had a good confidence booster and an easy run out – as well as progressing to the Semis!

Spurs continued to play well and have chances but nothing came of them until the 79th minute and the goal of the game. Davies, Ledley and Freund played their way away from the right hand touchline in front of us on the shelf with a series of flicks and headers and the ball eventually worked its way inside to Anderton who released Rebrov down the right. His cross to Iversen was a poor one, but Barness stepped in front of his keeper to poke the ball home from the penalty spot area. The beauty of the goal was the way the ball was played from the touchline – headers, flicks and great skill.

Spurs had a few more chances before the scoring was completed on 86 minutes, Rebrov again come in front the right, found Anderton and he had two attempts, the second of which was blocked on his knees by Hendry only for the ball to rebound to Iversen a yard out, and he made no mistake.

And that was that  - Spurs march into the semi final with our largest ever League cup winning margin while Bolton are left to fight their own relegation battle after giving up the chance of cup glory for three points over Charlton – a decision I will never understand.

At the end of the match – Les was pictured already in his suit (and presumably with Ted waiting in a cab to go down Charlie Browns) to collect his match ball from Sully after having to appeal to a member of the crowd to return it last time.

The Word of Hod

"It could have been more than six! - Some of the football was exquisite with the passing and the movement. I felt we learned a lot more about them from our League performance against them than they did against us.  Our movement was great and Darren Anderton, for me, epitomised our performance. He set the stall out and we took it on from there. With the ball and defensively he was magnificent tonight."

What we've managed to do this season is when we have lost we've bounced back with a victory straight afterwards - and I think that was significant. There are times to enjoy your football, and tonight was a time for the fans, players and staff to enjoy what they saw out there. We're in the semi-final, no more than that, and we'll cast our minds back to it when the draw has been made."

Sullivan (6/10) – Most difficult part of the evening was remembering what the score was to signal the crowd. Will be pleased with his clean sheet.

Perry (6/10) – Had his work cut out marking Holdsworth, whom he shared a joke with on more htan one occasion as the game was going on. His passing was its ordinary and made to worse by the re-emergence of Gardner

Gardner (7/10) – An accomplished display and a great reminder of what a talented player he is and what a great player he is going to become. Must keep his place in front of Perry for Saturday

King (7/10) – Back to form with a good display and unlucky not to score

Davies (7/10) – a very positive match and another goal to add to his already impressive return. Another great player in the making

Taricco (7/10) – Much better than Saturday and was a constant threat going forward

Anderton (7/10) – Was the fulcrum of the performance and in this less testing environment was pretty good – its when he is up against the best – the real questions will be asked, but he could do no more than play well, which he did

Freund (7/10) – Good to have him back and was smiling when urged to shoot by the crowd when receiving the ball deep inside his own half

Sheringham (7/10) – A good match which he should have really scored but he did his bit and his dreams of lifting some silverware with Spurs are coming closer

Ferdinand (7/10) – A good display again against Bolton and a hatrick of headers will do his confidence some good

Subs:

Rebrov (7/10) – Was lively when he came on

Iversen (6/10) – Played ok and managed to score

Sherwood (6/10) – Managed not too offend anyone and had 20 minutes in the shop window

Back to TOPSPURS 

This report is copyright of TOPSPURS.com – do not us any of its contents on any other site or publication without permission.