For my second cup match of a busy weekend I finally decided to pay a trip to The Reebok to see my own team, Bolton Wanderers, in action. Since the Third Round stage Bolton had been causing me a bit of a dilemma as this was about new grounds and experiences for me and in each round Bolton kept getting themselves drawn at home, ruling out the possibility of an awayday. Following my rejection by Derby and before Umbro's kind intervention, it seemed that fate had decided I was destined for The Reebok and a ticket was secured.
It would actually be my first visit since Jussi Jaaskelainen's testimonial in August having become a very much lapsed fan during the awful football of Gary Megson's reign combined with having to tighten my belt during the last couple of bleak economic years. The appointment of Owen Coyle was a source of joy as a link back to the days of Bruce Rioch at Burnden Park which was my happiest time following Bolton.
The trip to the ground was a simple one just involving a quick change of trains at Piccadilly. I had become acutely aware that I had neglected to feed myself since Saturday lunch so headed out of the station for some emergency Greggs. The one girl on the till looked like she had lost the will to live faced with an ever growing queue and the prospects of being served before my next train left were slim, so diverted to the pasty stall inside the concourse and a very satisfactory Cornish did the job.
A second change of trains at Bolton and I was soon leaving Horwich Parkway in sight of the stadium and it was looking like we were in for a low turnout this Valentines day lunchtime. A real shame as Bolton made their name in the FA Cup in Rioch's day and the sold-out matches at Burnden Park were always something special. Tottenham to their credit has brought 5,000 with them out of the overall crowd of 13,000. As the players took to the pitch, I was hoping that the game would warrant more than the poor attendance it had attracted.
Bolton had arrived at the 5th round having comfortably disposed of Lincoln and Sheffield United and Tottenham had progressed at the expense of Peterborough and Leeds, needing a replay last time out. Given the club's relative league position Tottenham were prematch favourites, but the Reebok has not previously been a happy hunting ground. The game started quite openly with Tottenham trying to exploit the height of Peter Crouch in attack and Bolton creating some chances outside the box without the finishing, from Elmander in particular, failing to match the quality of the approach play.
As the game drew closer to halftime, Bolton increased their pressure on Spurs and the closest chance came from Matt Taylor's free-kick drawing a fine save from Gomez. Bolton were not to be denied and a series of passes culminated in a superb one-two between Lee and Elmander who cut back to Kevin Davies who took on touch to tee up the ball before tucking it in the bottom corner to make it 1-0 to the hosts at the break. Retreating under the stand for a halftime pint, I noted that not only had we poached Burnley's manager - we also had their pies too!
In the second half, Tottenham were looking a lot more capable and it soon became clear Bolton may come to regret only leading by the one goal, although Bolton were still looking to attack Tottenham were starting to look dangerous at the other end.
Tottenham finally made the break-through having twice rattled the Bolton bar, a header from Crouch and a deflected shot from Palacios, when Jermaine Defoe pounced on a pass from Bale and blasted home from close range. Things went from bad to worse from there, firstly losing the impressive Zat Knight to injury and then a handball decision against Sam Ricketts gave Tottenham a penalty. Tom Huddlestone stepped up for the spot kick which was well saved by Jaaskalainen, keeping the game level.
Bolton seemed to respond to the wake up call of the spot-kick and although Tottenham still looked the more likely to score the threat level was greatly reduced and the only real chance of note was a long range effort from Defoe. The final score of 1-1 was a fair result as the teams had dominated a half each and although Tottenham will fancy their chances at home, hope springs eternal for Bolton.
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