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Here is Brian Judson's preview of the game

We have previously played Charlton in the FA Cup as follows :-

Season   Rd   Venue Result  Goalscorers

60-61    3     H     3-2    L Allen 2 Dyson
84-85    3     H     1-1    Crooks
         R     A     2-1    Galvin Falco

As you can see, we have only twice been drawn to play Charlton in the FA Cup. I recently dealt with the 1960-61 game in my History of the Double Season. Of the other tie, all I can remember now is that we were fortunate to survive the original match and I did not travel to see the replay at The Valley, their last season there before leaving to co-habit with West Ham United at Upton Park.

I thought I would talk about other Fourth Round ties I have seen over the years since no one will clearly want to be reminded about Saturday's non-event at Tottenham!

The first FA Cup Fourth Round tie I saw was a 3-0 home defeat by Sheffield United, then in the Second Division. We'd enjoyed a comfortable 4-0 home victory over Leicester City in the Third Round so were fairly optimistic about a second successive home time. So January 25th 1958 saw me standing at the Park Lane end of the ground. The only change in personnel from the Third Round was that Brooks played in place of Stokes. Stokes only played 65 League matches for Tottenham but he packed 40 goals into them. But he was pretty wild with his shots, which could go anywhere. Brooks was an enigma and could not be relied on to be consistent. The Blades enjoyed their afternoon's visit to Tottenham : we were never in the game and the defeat could have been heavier than the 3-0 it was had not Ted Ditchburn drew on his long experience.

The Fourth Round draw in January 1962 paired Plymouth Argyle with Spurs at Home Park. Plymouth were on the fringes of the promotion race from Division 2 whilst Spurs had thoughts of silverware on three fronts. They had already claimed the Charity Shield before the season had started, beating a virtual England XI, 3-2. The tie at Home Park was sold out, principally because everyone wanted to see Jimmy Greaves. Spurs won 5-1, the scorers being Greaves 2, Medwin, White and Jones.

One of the most memorable cup ties I ever saw was the Fourth Round tie between Spurs and Burnley in February 1966. Spurs were 0-2 down after only five minutes but fought back to level terms, then fell behind again and then equalised through Frank Saul. Spurs grabbed the winner with less than four minutes to go when Gilzean completed his hat-trick. That match had everything and everyone's nails must have been in shreds before the final whistle echoed.

A year later, we were on our way to Wembley. In the 4th Round, we were drawn at home to Portsmouth, struggling low in the Second Division. The first half was a dour one. Then Spurs scored twice within a minute early in the second half and Spurs never looked back, eventually running out winners, 3-1, thanks to those two early Gilzean goals. Greaves scored the other.

I remember the 4th Round tie with Wolves in January 1969 mostly because of Neil Johnson, an effervescent, bubbly player, who had no particular skills but gave 100 per cent. Master Anderson could do with a master class on the subject of commitment. Johnson always gave 110 per cent and scored one of the two goals in our 2-1 victory over Wolves that Saturday. Greaves, inevitably, scored the other. Johnson only spent five years at Tottenham. He was overshadowed by Possee and Weller in the first half of that period before they left for Millwall and the emerging Pearce killed off any hopes that Johnson had. He left for Charlton but played only once for them and made the further move to Torquay where he played five times for them before dropping out of the Football League.

I pass over the January 1970 debacle against Crystal Palace, pausing only to bow my head to the memory of Jimmy Greaves. The next game I recall was the replay against Carlisle in January 1972. We'd beaten them at Brunton Park the previous season but had been fortunate to scrape a draw at Tottenham the previous Saturday. The match was broadcast on the radio and my mother agreed to listen to it for me, so I sat in the kitchen with her whilst she did the week's ironing. I remember Gilzean scoring early in the second half followed by Chivers scoring a minute afterwards. The din I made must have been heard quite a way down the road. It brought my father out complaining he couldn't hear the film he was watching! Spurs won 3-1 that night, thanks to two goals by Chivers plus that Gilzean goal.

No one who saw the 4th Round 5-3 defeat by Derby County will ever forget that tie. Certainly not Mike England. Roger Davies, a tall, skinny gangling kid ran rings round Mike England that night. Yet we were winning 3-1 with 10 minutes left. People started to drift away, confident we were in the 5th Round. Yet Derby scored two late goals to force extra time and then scored twice more during extra time. Unsurprisingly, Bill Nicholson was furious with our display that night.

That was our last 4th Round tie until February 1979 when Wrexham came to White Hart Lane and forced a 3-3 draw and we beat them 3-2 after extra time in the replay. Chris Jones scored a hat-trick in that replay. I think it was the only one he scored in the first team.

My last memory is of our playing Hull City in the 4th Round of the Cup. We were to go on to beat Manchester City in the Final that year of the Cockerel in 1980-81. It wasn't the football I recall. We found it hard to break the Tigers down until Archibald and Brooke scored the goals. My memory is that of seeing a gap where the old West Stand had once stood and seeing a view of the High Road and buses passing along it as huge cranes and other builders' paraphernalia stood there, mutely, with people in hard hats ready to retrieve the balls kicked in that direction.

And what happens at the Valley? We will be without Booth, as he is cup-tied. We will probably play Rebrov as a single striker and push Doherty up front as much as we dare in the same way that we played at Brisbane Road. Funnily enough, I'm more optimistic about the Cup tie than I was about the League match. I think we will snatch it 1-0 with a late goal.

But whatever the state of the match, get behind the boys and don't let up, even if we are losing. Save the recriminations until the final whistle if they are needed.

COME ON YOU SPURS!

Cheers, Brian

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