Coventry's last six results:-

Coventry   0 2 Watford
West Brom  1 0 Coventry
Norwich    2 0 Coventry
Coventry   4 0 Bradford
Grimsby    0 1 Coventry
Nottm For  2 1 Coventry

Nationwide Division One
Pos         P  W  D  L F  A  Pts

8 COVENTRY  27 13 4 10 33 26 43 

This match has been postponed, and will now be played on Wednesday night 16th January The replay would be on fourth round day if required. Tickets purchased are valid for the re-arranged date.............. Lee Hughes (signed from West Brom) is the Coventry top scorer, but has only scored eight goals, and is not getting rave reviews. Thompson is only one goal behind him in the scoring stakes, but note that the Sky Blues have scored little more than one goal a game so far this season. They lie 8th in the league and a few points off the pace, but with 19 more league games to play, they will still fancy their chances of at least making the Promotion Play-Offs. Therefore this game will not be a priority for them, but expect plenty of reference to 1987, and also remember that "Gary Mabbutt's Knee" is the ittle of one of the Fanzines.

Teddy Sheringham's three match ban will end with the re-arranged match, so Sergei Rebrov will get a start, but even though Teddy has been out of touch in recent games, Spurs will miss his leadership and deft touches. Hopefully Simon Davies will get a start, and show his older colleagues the way to goal. I expect Spurs to win by two goals, but it will not be a stroll.

Here is Brian Judson's preview of the game

SEASON  ROUND   VENUE   RESULT

FA Cup

1980-81   5      H        3-1
1986-87   F      W        2-3

Football League Cup

1970-71  5       H        4-1
1977-78  3       H        2-3
1991-92  4       A        2-1
1995-96  3       A        2-3

An old score will, hopefully, be settled on Saturday when we run out at Highfield Road to play Coventry City in the 3rd Round of the FA Cup. No one who is a serious student of Tottenham's history will want to be reminded of that particular occasion. I still cannot bring myself to watch a video of the 1987 FA Cup Final. The memory is still far too painful for me even after nearly 15 years.

I was living with my girlfriend having walked out on my first wife at the time in Islington. My girlfriend decided to spend the weekend with her sister, who was studying music at Oxford Poly. I settled down to watch the Cup Final on the Saturday afternoon. I can still remember capering around the flat when Clive Allen put us ahead after three minutes. But after that, I don't remember a thing, not even that own goal that condemned us to defeat in extra time. Nor can I remember much of that weekend which passed with me in a daze .... How could Spurs LOSE at Wembley to a team with no pedigree at all ??????????????????????

And there was the shambles over the kit the players wore that day! Some had the old sponsors kit, some had the new sponsors kit and some played without any sponsors name on their shirt. It summed up the whole Irving Scholar era to a T!

There are much happier memories of our previous match with Coventry City in the FA Cup. It was 1981 and we were on our way to Wembley to the tune of Ossie's knees being trembly ..... My vivid memory of that afternoon was Kilcline's error which allowed Ossie to nip in to score the second goal of the three. Chris Hughton had opened the scoring and it was the dour often miserable looking Archie-Archie-ARCHIBALD, who scored the third.

The reconstruction of the ground was well into swing by that stage as the old wooden West Stand had vanished at Christmas 1980 and the site had been cleared in readiness for the new West Stand. Little did the Board under Chairman Arthur Richardson know the construction would overstretch the club and lead to a take-over bid ......

I thought that I would also refer to other Third Round ties Spurs have had over the years since I first began watching them ...

If memory serves me correctly, the first Cup tie I saw was Spurs against Leicester City in January 1958. We won 4-0 with Bobby Smith scoring twice, Terry Medwin and Alfie Stokes scoring the other. Stokes was a player who could score spectacular goals but miss them from point blank range. He was totally unpredictable.

The next FA Cup 3rd Round tie that I saw was that against Burnley during the 1963 freeze-up. Spurs had won the Cup in successive seasons and were generally expected to beat Burnley. But it was the most ill-tempered tie I have ever had the misfortune to see and Bobby Smith was one of several players who was lucky to avoid dismissal for an early bath. I remember him towering over the referee, arms on his waist, and appearing to say, "Who do you think you are, lecturing me an England international?"

A year later, we drew 1-1 with Chelsea, then managed by the bubbly extrovert Tommy Docherty. That Chelsea side was the most exciting Chelsea side I have ever seen as they were almost all teenagers with the old head of Tommy Harmer keeping them going. Dyson scored the goal that kept us in the Cup but we lost the replay at Stamford Bridge.

In January 1965, we were drawn away to Torquay United. I didn't travel down there but we were lucky to survive the tie with a 3-3 draw. In the replay at Tottenham, there were no doubts about the outcome and Greaves notched a hat-trick, Robertson and Gilzean completing the rout.

A year later, Spurs thrashed Middlesbrough 4-0. Dave Mackay scored twice, once from the spot and Frank Saul scored twice. The match was played on a mud-heap of a pitch.

I have clearer memories of our two games against Millwall in the 3rd Round of the FA Cup in 1967. I managed to get into the Den, albeit at the Dockers end of the ground. I was surrounded by burly Millwall fans and kept quiet about who I supported! But, in the end, I was glad to be where I was as some of the Millwall hooligans infiltrated the Tottenham end and a fight broke out on the terraces. The dockers all barracked their own hooligans for it ... We drew that game 0-0 and I remember it was a very late Gilzean header that broke the deadlock in the replay. The police took no chances and all leave was cancelled for the night of the replay.

A year later, we played Manchester United three times in one week, twice in the FA Cup. We were unlucky not to win at Old Trafford when Chivers scored twice. But it was late in extra time in the replay before Robertson broke the deadlock ....

In January 1969, I made the trip north to Walsall at their old Fellows Park stadium. We were awful that day and lucky to win, thanks to Jimmy Greaves scoring the only goal of the day.

A year later, we played Bradford City at Valley Parade. We were lucky to escape with a 2-2 draw, thanks to goals by Greaves and Roger Morgan. In the replay we thrashed Bradford City 5-0, Jimmy Pearce scoring twice, Greaves scoring twice and Morgan once.

I don't remember much of our 4-1 home victory against Sheffield Wednesday in January 1971 except that I remember Peter Springett playing in goal for the Owls. I seem to recall there were a couple of goalkeeping blunders. Gilzean scored twice, Peters and Mullery adding one apiece with Mullery scoring from the penalty spot.

In 1972, we were drawn at home to Carlisle. We played well below par and were lucky to escape with a 1-1 draw. I remember my mother listened to the replay on the radio for me whilst she did her week's ironing. I remember Chivers and Gilzean scored twice within a minute in the second half, provoking me into dancing around in the kitchen yelling at the top of my voice, much to the annoyance of my father ..........

My last recollection here is of our trip to Margate in January 1973 ....The ground was tiny but 8,500 managed to cram into the ground. It was bitterly cold but the result was never in doubt .... We won 6-0, thanks to Chivers scoring twice, Knowles, Peters, Pratt and Pearce all adding one apiece.

And on Saturday? Coventry is not a ground on which Spurs have done very well in the past. In the League we have only won on 14 trips out of 41 made to Coventry. Those of you who travel away will doubtlessly recall some of the occasions we made silly mistakes such as Gazza getting sent off in one of them. But this is the Cup and, hopefully, Spurs will have the bit between their teeth to embark on another Cup run. Coventry's aim must surely be to concentrate on the League this year to try to regain promotion to the Premier League. However, I suspect things will be tight and I would not be surprised if this game was not settled until late in the match.

COME ON YOU SPURS!

Cheers, Brian

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