Heroic FA Cup display from Tamworth before Tottenham clinch extra-time win
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Part-timers Tamworth produced a heroic display to take Tottenham to extra-time before the Premier League club limped into the FA Cup fourth round with a 3-0 win. Andy Peaks’ National League outfit pushed Spurs all the way at a buoyant Lambs Ground on an occasion for the whole town to be proud of – albeit with a tinge of disappointment after they missed out on a potential-lucrative replay.
Tamworth had threatened to win the tie in second-half stoppage-time before Ange Postecoglou watched two of his substitutes help them progress. Dominic Solanke’s deflected effort broke the deadlock in the 101st-minute before Dejan Kulusevski clinched the hard-fought victory with a second, six minutes later.
Brennan Johnson added unjust gloss to the score with a third after 118 minutes, but it failed to sour a memorable occasion for the non-league club, who received a standing ovation after extra-time. Tamworth had asked for volunteers to help clear the ground on Saturday morning to ensure the biggest match in the club’s history could go ahead 24 hours later and Postecoglou showed plenty of respect with his starting line-up.
James Maddison captained a Spurs side which contained five players from the midweek victory over Liverpool, but kick-off was delayed due to an issue with the net in one of the goals. Play eventually got under way five minutes later after Tamworth’s Beck-Ray Enoru got on the shoulders of goalkeeper Jas Singh to help fix the net and he almost stunned the visitors inside 25 seconds.
