Stevenage bring Spurs down to earth
STEVENAGE (0) vs TOTTENHAM (0)
TOTTENHAM manager Harry Redknapp blamed an unpredictable League One pitch after his top-flight high-fliers were forced to a replay by Stevenage in the FA Cup fifth round.
January signing Louis Saha had the ball in the net for Spurs but his second-half tap-in was disallowed because it ricocheted in via his offside team-mate Scott Parker on the line.
Otherwise Tottenham failed to conjure the dynamism that has carried them to third in the Premier League, and Redknapp admitted the surface had stymied his team.
“I just had a feeling today, looking at the pitch and everything, that it would be tough. It was bobbling around everywhere,” he said.
“We started lumping it. That wasn’t part of the plan but the lads weren’t comfortable passing the ball out there. I thought we would come here and win but the longer it went on the more I thought we’d take the draw.”
Stevenage caused few scares in the Spurs penalty box but rarely looked like losing their record of not conceding a goal in six FA Cup matches this season. A replay next week at White Hart Lane guarantees them at least one more significant windfall, as well as a potential quarter-final against Bolton, and manager Gary Smith insisted it was no more than he expected. “I honestly thought we were capable here of being in the hat for the last eight,” said Smith, a former youth player at Arsenal. “Our players were terrific. There was a real intensity and tenacity.”
Redknapp shuffled his pack at the Lamex Stadium and revealed afterwards that several of his absentees were struggling to recover in time to face the Gunners on Sunday.
Emmanuel Adebayor has a twisted knee, Luka Modric a virus, Rafael van der Vaart a calf injury and Benoit Assou-Ekotto is recovering from recent groin surgery.