SATURDAY 6TH JANUARY, 2001 FA CUP 3RD
ROUND
Doherty,
90
Attendance: - 12,336
Referee: - Mr. P. Jones
Leyton Orient:-(4-4-2) Bayes;
Joseph, McGhee, Smith, Lockwood; Brkovic, Walschaerts, Harris,
Houghton; Opara (sub Tate, 70),Watts,
Subs not used:- Barrett; Downer, Beall,
Hatcher Booked:-
Harris (Foul)
Spurs:- (3-5-2) Sullivan; Doherty,
Campbell, Perry; Leonhardsen, Anderton, Sherwood, King, Clemence;
Rebrov, Ferdinand (sub Korsten, 70 )
Subs not used:- Walker; Young, Thelwell;
Davies
Booked:- Sherwood (foul)
We’re on our way, perhaps not
in the fashion we expect, but we’re there nonetheless and
have another success emerging from the ranks in Doherty. On a
crisp sunny afternoon in North East London, it was great to see
mixed groups of fans going to the game and there seemed more than
the official attendance in the ground. Inside the ground things
were not so good – no seat number on the seats and only one
entrance and one toilet for around 5,000 people in the Spurs
stand. Half time brought memories of Hillsborough 1981 when
people were involved in a massive crush attempting to move within
the stand.
It was good to see many of the usual
traveling faces within the crowd and a massive “yids”
banner was hung on the northern end of the Spurs enclosure. As
expected, Spurs started with the same team as against Newcastle,
with Krapston unbelievable keeping Armo off the bench, on a
decent quality pitch for a lower league team.
Spurs started fairly brightly in a
frenetic opening. Rebrov had the first clear-cut chance when he
controlled the ball perfectly on the left hand edge of the box,
before coming inside and hitting albeit a modest shot at the
keeper. I had a terrible view of the goal to my right as the TV
gantry and associated posts were in the way, but managed to see
Sully pull off a good save from a smart snap shot from Lockwood
after Campbell had headed out a corner.
An Anderton free kick was smartly flicked
on by the ever impressive King and Campbell stole in at the far
post to force the ball home at the second attempt after the
keeper made a brave stop from his first effort, only to see the
lino had his flag up for offside – which looked very dodgy.
The crowd sung “he’s done his country proud” as he
went back to the halfway line and Campbell remains a firm
favourite amongst the real yiddo’s whatever the spin the
likes of Sugar and the Goonersaurus try to put on his contract
negotiations.
As the first half wore on and Orient
battled their way into the games, the only way to tell the
Premiership side was by the fact that they did n’t seem to
be trying as hard. Despite Orient’s best efforts, they never
really threatened Sully’s goal and it was Ledley King who
had the next meaningful chance after 20 minutes when his powerful
header from Leo’s right wing cross was well held by the
Orient keeper.
This was probably Tottenham’s best
spell of the match and soon after this, it was King again with
another similar header which this time smacked the Orient post
before Clem slid in only to see his effort from a couple of yards
hit the bar before going behind. The only other chance for
Tottenham in the first half was a 30-yard Anderton shot, which
was well saved towards the end of the half.
Tactically, Spurs (apart from possibly
Sherwood) have managed to perfect the art of pass, but have not
managed to add the “move” element to make all the
passing worthwhile. As soon as someone receives the ball, there
is no movement from anyone else in front of them in the pitch.
The team often flatter to deceive by making sure everyone in the
defence and midfield has a touch of the ball before Sherwood
provides someone with a hospital ball and we lose it. Its like
Graham has heard of progressive tactics, but does n't really
understand them – and until this is sorted, we will not see
the best of Rebrov.
Orient, in the shape of the mulletheaded
Harris managed to hit the post towards the end of the first half
but the ref had already blown for offside. The very vocal Spurs
following wasted no time in letting their regard for Graham be
known with intermittent singing of “we want Graham out”
and “there’s only one Glenn Hoddle” (although it
should be added most of the these short burst were followed by
“we love you Tottenham”. While I can never condone any
form of anti Tottenham singing, I have every sympathy with these
songs and after numerous away disappointments, the lack of
tactics and the sale of Ginola, I also want the Goonersaurus out
but think singing it during a cup match is counter productive.
Half time arrived to the somewhat bizarre
sounds of the banana splits, and in true yiddo fashion we all had
a good moan.
Soon into the second half, Rebrov got on
to the end of an Anderton cross, but saw his header saved by the
competent Orient keeper. Spurs failed to build on this and
regressed in the match. Ferdinand, for all his recent good
performances was very poor, eventually being substituted for the
even worse Korsten, while Sherwood even found a third division
midfield to alert for him, and Leo had another modest game as
right wing back, offering little going forward and leaving
Doherty exposed too often. A monotonous period of play in the
second half brought ironic singing of “its just like
watching Brazil”
As the game wore on, many Spurs fans got
annoyed at the team’s lack of ability to put any sustained
pressure on the Orient goal, let alone look like scoring. With
ten minutes to go, Leo broke into the space behind the Orient
defence, but his cross/shot evaded both the far post and Anderton
who had made a spirited effort to get in the box. Anderton
managed another shot from the edge of the area, but this was
blocked for a corner, as Anderton brushed his hair away in
disappointment.
In the final five minutes of normal time,
Orient had their best spell of the match, as the crowd’s
realisation that one goal could knock us out seemed to galvanize
their players and Spurs had to clear a couple of times under
pressure, but nothing actually troubled Sully.
The fourth official held up the board
signaling three extra minutes (from where only he knows).
Campbell got forward and sent over an innocuous looking lofted
cross, but Rebrov used all his spring and managed to get a good
firm header which the keeper did well to turn for a corner.
Anderton took the resultant corner and as everybody moved to the
near post Doherty stole in behind and placed a downward header in
the corner. The crowd went wild – we were through, and those
of us that had done over 1600 miles following Spurs away this
season had finally seen an away win.
The ref blew the whistle shortly after,
and while Orient may feel slightly hard done by as the goal was
so late and they had held Spurs off so spiritedly, they cannot
complain that Spurs had the better chances. Lets all sing
together “its lucky for Spurs when the year ends in one, we’ll
next win the cup when the centaury begins”
The only downer of the last few minutes
was the refusal, bar Sully of the players to acknowledge the fans
at the end of the match. This is obviously related to the Anti-Graham
chanting as the same thing happened at Coventry amongst others
this season.
Sullivan – 7/10 –
another solid display. He never looked like conceding a goal
Doherty – 7/10 – the
second excellent performance in a week. Doherty looks much
happier at the back coming forward and is a strong tackler. He
will be even better with Carr at right wing back, and scored
another vital goal. A great week for the young man, so it was.
Perry – 6/10 – generally
played ok
Campbell – 7/10 –
another good display from Sol who looked unlucky to have his goal
chalked off
Leo – 5/10 – I like Leo,
but he has struggled for form since his return to the side and
does not look a natural wing back
Sherwood – 5/10 – better than
recent efforts but still looks well off his best
Anderton – 6/10 – Shaggy
might not be the player he was but he kept plugging away and sent
in a fine corner for the winning goal
King 7/10 – an accomplished
performance in the middle from Led who was unlucky not to score.
Would benefit from having someone better than Sherwood as an
outlet.
Clemence 6/10 – played ok
without doing anything special
Ferdinand 5/10 – had a rare
off day
Rebrov 7/10 – looked busy up
front and was at the heart of the best things we created. Looks a
better player now that he shoots more often