SATURDAY 6TH JANUARY, 2001
FA CUP 3RD ROUND
LEYTON ORIENT 0 (0) TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 1 (0)

Spurs scorer:-
Doherty, 90

Attendance:- 12,336

Referee:- Mr P. Jones

Teams:-
Leyton Orient:- Bayes; Joseph, McGhee, Smith, Lockwood; Brkovic (sub Beall, 89), Walschaerts, Harris, Houghton; Opara (sub Tate, 70), Watts

Subs not used:- Barrett; Downer, Hatcher

Booked:- Harris (Foul on Rebrov)

Spurs:- Sullivan; Doherty, Campbell, Perry; Leonhardsen, Anderton, Sherwood, King, Clemence; Rebrov, Ferdinand (sub Korsten, 70 )

Subs not used:- Walker; Young, Thelwell; Davies

Booked:- Sherwood (foul)

Here is a full report from Jim Duggan:- (Jim's web site is currently pick of the week at "Spurs Odyssey", but can also be found here)

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 didn’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. It's like Graham has heard of progressive tactics, but doesn't really understand them - and until this is sorted, we will not see the best of Rebrov.

Orient, in the shape of the mullet-headed 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 too 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 "It's 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 century 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.

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