Match report
I’ll leave you there. What a day of football drama! And it would take a heart of flint to begrudge Rochdale that replay. They approached this tie the right way and were rewarded accordingly. There was guile and, at the end, genuine grit. The replay will be a proper hassle for Spurs, with all their games, but that’s their problem; Rochdale have a backlog of their own to clear if they are to battle out of their – improbable, on this evidence – relegation battle but they won’t care about that tonight. These two will meet again! And we will, too, but for now goodnight!
“Heartbreak for Spurs!” pipes up Phil Grey. Definitely didn’t have one of those ready.
Fans in the stands are shaking their heads. So am I. Tottenham were very good in the second half, turned it right around and then, with the big guns on, seemed to have done the job at the death. But in a replica of that Norwich-Ipswich game – although in far less likely circumstances it must be said – the home side kept on going and drew level in quite astonishing fashion.
Henderson speaks: “We played some wonderful football against an incredible team in Spurs and to get a draw ... you can see what it means to everyone, we cannot wait to go to Wembley now.”
Davies speaks: “I’ve been out for seven weeks and found it tough to get back into the team. But I’ve done my job and stuck it in. You look around and it was written, wasn’t it.”
I don’t know if it was, but it was the kind of tie that makes this cup so very special.
Full-time: Rochdale 2-2 Tottenham
That was breathtaking! Rochdale have earned a replay at Wembley!
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90+4: Unbelievable! Spotland goes berserk! Rochdale work the ball up the left and, in a development that will infuriate Pochettino, they have four men in the box to Tottenham’s three. The cross reaches the further of them, the substitute Davies, who controls and drills crisply into the bottom corner. You could never have seen this coming! Isn’t football great sometimes?
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Goal! Rochdale 2-2 Tottenham (Davies 90+3)
Oh my!!
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90+1 min: We are in added time now and Rochdale seem finished. But then so did Norwich in the day’s earlier MBM.
89 min: Inman replaces McNulty for Rochdale, who must be gutted. The goal had been coming but for the bulk of the game they were secure.
Goal! Rochdale 1-2 Tottenham (Kane pen 88)
Where’s that button Phil Grey asked for? Kane converts with aplomb, dashes to the camera and then plants a kiss on it, shouting “Ryan Mason” in acknowledgement of his recently-retired friend. Spurs have, indeed, won it.
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Penalty to Tottenham
No doubts about this – it’s McGahey on Alli, after Lamela’s shot pings through to his fellow sub, and it’s clear. Kane can win it here ...
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86 min: Lamela can’t find a team-mate from it, and Sissoko’s drive from the edge of the box is deflected through to Lillis. It’s something of a barrage now; can Rochdale stay put for the draw they deserve?
85 min: Rathbone commits a highly “no-nonsense” foul on Rose and is booked. Once again Spurs have a set-piece within striking distance of goal, but at an angle on the left ...
83 min: Off the line from Done! Alli’s backheel across goal is begging to be converted by ... I think ... Lamela but McNulty throws himself in there to block brilliantly. It still spins up towards goal but Done is stationed to head away from under the crossbar!
82 min: Should point out that, although they are certainly under the cosh now, Rochdale are still trying to play their stuff. Very little hoof and hope from them. It’s been impressive.
81 min: Rose seems to have gained a lease of life and is driving up that flank repeatedly. He earns a corner but Lamela swings it out of play, rendering Foyth’s subsequent header and Lillis’s tip over insignificant. For Rochdale, Rafferty is now replaced by Rathbone.
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79 min: “Have you made a “Heartbreak for Rochdale” shortcut so you just need to press one key and the whole phrase will appear? Just in case,” asks Phil Grey.
Cynical! It’s almost as if you’ve seen games like this before.
77 min: Kane is straight into the thick of it and draws a foul. Trippier drives the free kick into a tightly-packed wall.
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76 min: Heeeeeeeeeere’s Harry! Kane comes on for Llorente and we are in for 18 or 19 minutes of Tottenham Not Messing About.
75 min: Alli nutmegs McGahey, weaves into the area and shapes to shoot from an angle. Kitching blocks heroically. And now Rochdale replace Humphrys with Steve Davies up top.
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74 min: Rafferty, who I’ve liked here, sees yellow for checking Rose after the left-back did really well to keep the ball in. Trippier to inswing the free-kick ... but Lillis punches it away strongly with both fists.
72 min: Over the bar from Wanyama with the goal at his mercy! The corner takes a flick of McGahey, I think, and there’s Wanyama at the far post to convert ... but it pings off his knee and up from right under the crossbar! A bad miss, although to be fair there wasn’t any time to use his foot and make sure.
71 min: Credit to Rochdale, as it’s not quite been attack against defence since the goal. Spurs look to change that as Rose latches onto a slide-rule Wanyama ball and wins a corner. Before it, they bring on another member of the cavalry – Alli for the very good, perhaps game-saving, Moura.
68 min: Rochdale will fancy this position though – Trippier bundles Henderson over 25 yards out. It could be crossed or shot from here, though I err to the former. Camps doesn’t, though, and clips harmlessly wide of Vorm’s near post.
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@NickAmes82 The best thing this week was that I discovered The Meters, the greatest old school funk band that most people have (probably) never heard of. Awesome. Also, up the Dale!
— Allan Castle (@aldcastle) February 18, 2018
It is healthy to have interests outside football.
66 min: A Trippier cross is deflected into the side netting. Lamela’s work from the short corner is a waste of time and energy.
64 min: Alderweireld is booked, correctly, for preventing Humphrys countering. He took one for the team, and all that.
64 min: Rochdale would, like Newport, hardly turn down the benefits of a replay at Wembley. But this could be a long half-hour now.
62 min: Winks goes off, Lamela comes on, and presumably Pochettino sees a chance to get this done.
61 min: Rochdale respond immediately and Henderson cries for a penalty with Foyth in contact behind him. Nothing is given, and that’s correct, but they’ve come back strongly.
Goal! Rochdale 1-1 Tottenham (Moura 59)
That’s not terrible though! Moura has been Spurs’ best player and he starts the move near halfway, keeps running, benefits from an astute Sissoko pass and, faced with Lillis, lifts the ball over him superbly. A lovely equaliser and now the tone will change.
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59 min: Rose has the chance to deliver a free-kick into the box for Spurs but it’s terrible – his cross doesn’t even make it to the 18-yard line!
57 min: Henderson attempts some craft, with Rochdale flinging three or four men forward, but can’t find a team-mate. Tottenham are starting to wind up the pressure, in general, and the hosts will need to make increasingly good use of respite like that.
55 min: Winks, seeking to atone for his error in the buildup to the goal, does well though to shoot from 25 yards and draw a save from Lillis. Moment later Lillis has to dive onto Son’s ball intended for Moura.
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54 min: Darkness is descending. Spurs are seeing a fair bit of the ball. They aren’t doing a huge deal with it and Camps does well to get in Moura’s way.
@NickAmes82 I absolutely hate games like this. Yes, it’s great to see a lower tier side bring it to the big boys, but it’s awful to watch @SpursOfficial embarrass themselves. They shouldn’t need Kane for this one but I guess they do.
— Ron Stack (@ronstack) February 18, 2018
I don’t actually think Spurs have been that bad.
51 min: In the meantime Rochdale have started this half in comfort. In fact they’ve been on the front foot if anything. There will surely come a time when they have to knuckle down and repel whatever Spurs throw at them but it seems wise to avoid sitting too deep too early.
Should have mentioned this at half-time, by the way, but it’s excellent from Andy Hunter with Rochdale’s possible matchwinner:
48 min: Rochdale win an early corner, after some grappling near the flag between Humphrys and Foyth. Kitching isn’t a million miles away from meeting it at the near post.
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46 min: No changes for anyone but if this goes on another 15 minutes you’d expect Kane to be dusted down.
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Peeeeeep! Second half underway
Rochdale are 50 minutes or so away from something very famous ...
More name-based fun from Matt Dony: “Further to Charles Antaki, I’m glad to see Matt Done playing purely because his name is so similar to mine, I can bask in second hand glory. The same reason I used to enjoy hearing commentators praise MS Dhoni.”
“Glancing at the ‘as it happens’ for Rochdale-Spurs, otherwise I’d have to be working,” writes Richard McGahey. “And I see this at three minutes! ‘At the other end, Son almost has room for a shot but McGahey is in swiftly.’ Apparently my long-lost umpeenth cousin eight times removed, Harrison McGahey! What a thrill to read about how well ‘McGahey’ is doing! Hope he doesn’t own goal, as his relative (me) was more than capable of doing when I played. Up the Dale! (Is that Rochdale’s nickname?)”
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What a game we have on now. I was about to type that it had been a genuinely end-to-end, decent cup tie with no obvious winner before Henderson scored. Then he did, and anything could happen now. As at Newport, Spurs have a real problem now – but Rochdale are better than Newport. Are we on the verge of something historic? Will Harry Kane get an early call? We’ll find out soon!
Half-time: Rochdale 1-0 Tottenham
How about that? The goal is the half’s last real action!
Goal! Rochdale 1-0 Tottenham (Henderson 45)
Well, well, well! They deserve this for the quality of their approach. Winks is dispossessed, Rochdale sweep up field and Cannon, found on the right side of the box, sets the chance up perfectly for Henderson. He makes no mistake from 10 yards, sweeping it in first-time! The shock is really on!
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44 min: Son lays sideways for Moura and if Camps, haring back to defend now, doesn’t get a toe in then it’s surely 1-0. But instead ...
43 min: Camps, in the Rochdale midfield, is a very nice, busy user of the ball. He’s really helping them to play – and they’re standing up to Spurs in footballing terms here.
41 min: Son, to Llorente, a bobble or two and then an unnecessary return ball from Son when a shot was on. Lillis scampers across goal to gather gratefully.
39 min: As proved, there, when Trippier has produce his third fine piece of defending to divert a cross from the right away from danger. Rochdale’s deliveries have been on point.
38 min: Spurs are broadly on top but the least you can say for Rochdale is that they are keeping them honest – and they look genuinely dangerous when they string attacks together.
36 min: Moura gets past Delaney on the right, though, and McGahey turns his drilled ball behind when Spurs players were lurking. It’s a corner for Trippier. Further danger is subsequently averted.
34 min: Delaney covers very sharply to deny Llorente a chance. This is a good cup tie at the moment.
32 min: Real chance for Henderson! Now Rochdale should be ahead! Camps plays a delightful through ball over the defence and Henderson, admittedly having to watch the ball over his shoulder, angles himself to take a clear shot at goal. But he gets it wrong and fires over the angle.
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29 min: And ... oooh ... Spurs come close again. Son sets Trippier behind the defence with a sublime pass and he sidefoots first-time across the face of goal from the byline. Sissoko can’t quite get there for the tap-in, and although Moura retrieves the situation he fires wastefully over after cutting back inside.
28 min: Wanyama concedes a corner with a woefully aimed ball back that gave Vorm no chance. Sissoko rises highest to bullet the delivery away.
26 min: But how do Rochdale survive that? Son races clear down the inside left and Lillis saves well, but can’t hold the ball. It falls to Sissoko, who can’t get a clean contact either but gathers himself to tee up Llorente. Llorente doesn’t snatch at the chance: he calmly works himself space and, even with defenders recovering, you expect him to pass the ball inside the post. But he shoots wide! Spurs ought to be ahead there.
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25 min: Some Rochdale possession, now, outside the Tottenham area – resulting in a teasing delivery from Rafferty, impressive on the right so far, that is again defended well by Trippier. It had to be.
22 min: Now Llorente does rather better, heading a Foyth diagonal on to Son, who cuts in but sees his drive blocked by a flung Rochdale body. The corner, sent in by Trippier, produces nothing worthy of comment.
21 min: Llorente isn’t ready for a Son flick and Rochdale are alive to it. It’s been an impressive first quarter from them, plenty of energy, and Spurs have not had things remotely all their own way – while looking a bit sharper than they did at Newport.
18 min: McGahey goes over the ball and into Winks, conceding only a free-kick. That was a tad naughty. Rochdale end up countering and what a chance this is! Henderson has free men to his left and right but, held up by the defence, goes it alone and shoots straight at Vorm!
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16 min: Rochdale shout for a handball after a flowing move ends with Cannon twisting Alderweireld inside out. They may have had a case – his arm touched the ball but he rather fell onto it.
15 min: Trippier whips in a free-kick from the right but Alderweireld’s header is no trouble for Lillis. There’s a then a little set-to as Llorente blocks Lillis’s drop-kick. Illegally, it is judged.
13 min: Trippier stretches every sinew to ensure a right-wing cross brings Rochdale nothing more than a corner. It’s cleared but the hosts continue to show some promise.
12 min: Rochdale continue to look like a team that will contribute to today’s footballing spectacle. They’re trying to do things the right way and haven’t looked ill at ease in the early exchanges. They should perhaps be punished by Son, though, as he takes a nice return lay-off from Llorente but lets the ball run away from him.
10 min: Moura has started very well, now forcing goalkeeper Lillis into a hasty clearance outside his area. Tottenham have the best of the territory at the moment.
8 min: The pitch looks fast and a bit slippery, but it’s the same for both.
6 min: Moura goes on a sweet little slalom through midfield and is impeded. The free-kick, taken quickly, is dealt with. At this stage it doesn’t seem Spurs will get much easily.
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4 min: Rochdale find their way into a dangerous free-kick position and try a training-ground move, but Rafferty’s clever ball has a bit too much on it.
3 min: They get their first glimmer of an opening though Done on the left; he wriggles to the byline well but his cross is cut out. Rochdale seem happy to work the ball smoothly from back to front. At the other end, Son almost has room for a shot but McGahey is in swiftly.
2 min: A quiet start action-wise, although Rochdale look braced to put plenty of energy into this.
Peeeeep! We are underway
The winners play Swansea or Sheffield Wednesday.
Hill looks very dapper with his flat cap and beard. He exchanges pleasantries with Pochettino. A coin is tossed. Positions are taken. Rochdale will kick us off.
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The teams are emerging at a noisy, pulsating Spotland ...
Pochettino chats: “The pitch is fantastic, we congratulate everyone that was involved in trying to improve and change it. We are so happy, but I need to recognise the people involved on working on it, it was an amazing job. Today football is going to win.”
Two notable names on Rochdale’s bench. Joe Thompson has recovered from cancer twice; his is a remarkable achievement to be back here today and it would be wonderful to see him come on. Daniel Adshead is just 16, and still at school.
Hill speaks! “We had the Fleetwood game cancelled last weekend, we couldn’t start the pitch until mid afternoon on Sunday so it’s been a superb achievement to get it laid. We’ve tried to focus on the game itself and tried to let everyone else focus on the sideshow, the carnival.”
“I’m glad to see that a Matt Done is playing, because (after the inevitable game-killing Spurs goals), it would otherwise have been like watching paint dry. End of weak joke,” apologises Charles Antaki, after the fact.
That relaid Rochdale pitch looks pretty swish! Amusingly, the club are holding a “beach party” for kids after all the publicity its sandy predecessor received. Does this lessen the chances of an upset? My memory of Hill is that he likes a passing game and is hardly some sort of old-school grafter, so perhaps Rochdale will enjoy it more too.
Rochdale team
They’ve let us in on the secret, the scamps.
Rochdale: Lillis, Rafferty, McNulty, McGahey, Humphrys, Camps, Done, Delaney, Cannon, Kitching, Henderson. Subs: Ntlhe, Rathbone, Thompson, Inman, Davies, Moore, Adshead.
What are we thinking? Upset potential? Matt Done, seven goals this season, always looks quite handy when I see him.
274 - Lucas Moura will make his first start in club football since 20th May 2017 for PSG against Caen, 274 days ago. Awaited.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 18, 2018
There you go. Still no Rochdale team by the way – maybe this is some good old fashioned Cup kidology!
Tottenham team
The Rochdale team is, as yet, mysteriously unavailable but we have Tottenham’s here:
Tottenham: Vorm, Trippier, Alderweireld, Foyth, Rose, Wanyama, Winks, Sissoko, Lucas, Son, Llorente. Subs: Gazzaniga, Sanchez, Walker-Peters, Dier, Alli, Lamela, Kane.
A domestic debut for Lucas Moura! And Kane on the bench in case things get rough.
Hello
Here we go, then, for what is surely the tie of the fifth round! It has a bit of everything, this, doesn’t it? Rochdale, bottom of League One, take on a Spurs team that is absolutely flying. There’s been some hustle and bustle about the pitch at Spotland, freshly relaid as it happens, but we’re all set now and Tottenham cannot say they haven’t been warned in their cup run so far.
They came *mighty* close to falling flat at Newport, That Man Harry Kane saving them late on, and it’s hard to see Mauricio Pochettino countenancing a repeat of that performance – where he felt their attitude hadn’t been quite right. Rochdale, managed so astutely by Keith Hill over the years, will pounce on any of that and how the visitors start may be key.
It could be rattling good fun at what you might call a quintessential “lower league” venue. Or it might be done after 20 minutes. Only one way to find out!
Nick will be here soon enough.
