Early goals from Giovani Lo Celso and Erik Lamela helped
Spurs to defeat Middlesbrough at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in their
Emirates FA Cup Third Round replay, setting up a Fourth Road clash against
Southampton.
I had not been to the new Spurs stadium so once I saw the
original tie at the Riverside end 1-1, I immediately sourced for tickets and at
only £20 a piece (plus a booking fee obviously) I felt these weren’t badly
priced. As luck would have it, I managed
to source a freebie, so that certainly helped. (thanks to Martin Brazier for
that!!!)
I had seen the new ground from White Hart Lane station
before, and I described it like a spaceship had landed in North London, it is huge
and standing right next to it confirms this observation!!!
After walking up what seemed like a billion flights of stairs
(which almost killed me!!!) I reached level five in the West Stand and saw the inside
of the stadium for the first time, and my word it’s impressive. One word of warning, if like me you were in
Row 21 of the upper tier and do not like heights, this is not a seat for you!!!
My work it’s high, but the view is fantastic, and there are four giant screen’s
you can look at too so certainly no problem following the action.
Anyway too the action on the field now, and Spurs had named
a pretty strong XI for this one, like they had done in the first game, so they
were serious about this competition and their opponents too, despite their lowly
league position in the Championship. And
backed by 3,700 noisy Boro fans, the visitors would have been up for this after
they had taken this one to a replay.
But, after just two minutes of the contest Spurs led after a
howler from Boro keeper Tomas Mejias, who had played under Jose Mourinho at
Real Madrid in 2011, as the keeper tried to play a ball out to one of his
defenders Marvin Johnson but saw Lo Celso intercept the pass, cut inside another
defender, and then roll the ball into the far corner.
It was the worst possible start for the visitors, but they
should of rectified this early setback eleven minutes later when Lukas Nmecha
had a golden chance to score, but he saw his effort well saved by Spurs stopper
Paulo Gazzaniga, and this proved costly only three minutes later.
That is because Spurs went up the other send and made it 2-0
and Boro boss Jonathan Woodgate would have been unhappy with the way they
conceded this goal too, as after Jonny Howson was dispossessed, Lamela was laid
in and he flicked home with the outside of his left boot and Spurs had a dream
start when moments earlier it could have not been.
The remainder of the half thereafter saw Spurs miss chances
to put the tie to bed as Boro struggled to cope with their attacking flair. Lamela shot
over on the turn, Ryan Sessegnon had an effort pushed wide, Japhet Tanganga
shot just off target and Lucas Moura wasted a chance from a counterattack. They did take a 2-0 lead into the break
though and were looking comfortable at this stage.
Half Time Tottenham Hotspur 2
Middlesbrough 0
Boro knew they had to be better if
they were to stay in this tie, and knew they were lucky to still be in it at
half time, but they competed much better in the second period although you felt
Spurs may have taken their foot of the gas a bit.
The hosts still had chances in the
half though and you felt a third goal would end this contest once and for all,
and one chance saw Christian Eriksen up in arms after he should have also been
put through on goal, but team-mate Moura instead opted to shoot instead and
could only drag an effort wide.
Eriksen nearly scored late in the
second half when his low delivery in the penalty area was missed by everyone
and Mejias had to get down well to push the ball away one-handed, but Boro had
a spell in the final twenty minutes where they briefly threatened to mount a
fightback.
Paddy McNair shot well over when
unmarked eight yards out and Lewis Wing's direct free kick was pushed around
the post by Gazzaniga, but with seven minutes remaining George Saville pulled
one back late on for Boro with a low strike from 20 yards out, meaning a
nervy ending for the hosts.
Middlesbrough substitute Rudy
Gestede had a chance to force extra-time, but he could only head over the bar
from eight yards as Spurs held on for the win. The hosts themselves had the chance to seal
it before that when a brilliant run down the right by MOTM Tanganga saw him
fire across goal but substitute Son Heung-min could only divert wide at the far
post.
Spurs though did take the win although
made hard work of it in the end, but they now face Southampton at St Mary’s in
the Fourth Round a week on Saturday, looking to avenge their 1-0 defeat their
on New Years Day in the Premier League.
Full Time Tottenham Hotspur 2
Middlesbrough 1
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