Tottenham Hotspur v Portsmouth, Semi-Final Sunday 11th April 2010

Having overcome the seemingly insurmountable hurdle of getting a ticket for the semi-final, I set off from home at the seldom seen hour of 7am from home to meet up with Richard, who was flying in from Belfast, in central London and 3 hours later I was outside Euston station and the holy grail was finally in my hands.



Richard turned out to be excellent company - I was impressed with his tally of 15 Spurs games this season, given his home location- and we met up with a few other friends, a mix of Spurs and Portsmouth followers, for a nice spot of Sunday lunch and a few beers near to Marlybone Station as the sun shone down on London.

Having seen Tottenham play twice in person in their cup run as well as the two televised replays that followed, they were strong favourites for the match with plenty of players in the team capable of winning the game. The fact that Portsmouth had got this far in the cup was nothing short of miraculous having spent most of the season facing financial oblivion and having their relegation from the Premier League confirmed just 24 hours earlier. Manager Avram Grant is clearly a man up for challenge having previously made his name in English football as the less than popular successor to Jose Mourinho at Chelsea, the team who will provide the opposition for today's winners in the final.

The early afternoon passed fairly quickly and pleasantly and soon it was time to make the short hop by train to Wembley Stadium, having previously used the tube for visits to Wembley this is a much better way to get there a far less crowded and much quicker ten minute hop to Wembley Stadium station.


Stepping off the train, I caught my first sight of the new Wembley for the first time - the journey from Manchester to London had taken me past but I had been sat on the wrong side for a sighting.

On the walk to the ground, I cast my mind back to my three previous visits. The first was Bolton's 2-1 Coca Cola Cup Final defeat in 1995 and the last in 2000 was an FA Cup Semi, Bolton losing this time on penalties to Aston Villa 4-1 after a 0-0, the sight of Dean Holdsworth blazing over a gaping goal after an excellent cut-back from Eidur Gudjohnsen ten minutes before the end is still emblazoned on my memory. Sandwiched in between was a 0-0 draw between England and Saudi Arabia. It was interesting to note that David James was on the winning team for both the Bolton games, contributing some excellent saves and would be facing Gudjohnsen at Wembley again today.

The ground looked fine from the outside, and the turnstile queues after the short walk from the station moved very swiftly. Inside there was a quick search from the stewards, what really impressed me was that they were kitted out with plastic glasses for fans to decanted any canned or bottled soft drinks they had rather than just make you throw it away. Another big plus were the escalators which rapidly transported me to the top tier where my seat awaited.



On emerging into the stand, Wembley still holds that wow factor for me. The only other stadium that I visited of comparable size is Old Trafford, but Wembley's more spacious design gives a better view from the top in my opinion and it also has the advantage of the entire seated area being visible too.





The pre-match parade of flags and handshakes were soon concluded and the match was underway, Tottenham fans giving voice to thei excellent slowed down then speeded up version of "When the Spurs go marching in" "Play up Pompey" was provided by way of retaliation but the bell ringing normally prevalent at Portsmouth games could not be heard from where I was. Spurs dominated the early possession and territorial advantage and width was provided by Bentley and more so Gareth Bale. Portsmouth managed to cope admirably well with the balls into the box to deny any early clear-cut chances and looked willing, if not able to mount counter attacks.





Sadly, the first half failed to live up to the occasion with Tottenham largely unable to find the space and precision required to overcome a resolute Portsmouth team and I found my attention increasingly drawn towards the camera suspended high above the pitch as it "flew" back and forth. By half time the teams had managed to eke out three chances, James doing well to deny Crouch and Huddlestone and a good block from Gomez when Piquionne got himself clear on a rare raid.




The second half was not a great improvement, Harry Redknapp soon lost patience with Defoe who never looked in danger of adding to his 5 FA Cup goals and replaced him with the recently in form Pavlyuchenko. The first real hint of a goal was when Aaron Mokoena manged to steer the ball past his own keeper before recovering to clear the ball for a corner. Crouch managed to hit the woodwork and David James's legs from a couple of scruffy chances towards the end of 90 minutes and the introduction of Kranjcar failed to unlock the goal Spurs needed.




Another 30 minutes and quite possibly penalties were looming, 9 minutes later and the unthinkable happened and Portsmouth scored. The Wembley pitch has come in for a lot of criticism for its lack of grip and Michael Dawson fell victim as he slipped in an attempt to clear a knock-down leaving Frederic Piquionne a simple tap in past Gomez and completely silencing all the Spurs fans around me, leaving the Portsmouth cheers sounding very distant.




Tottenham attempted to fight back and Crouch had a goal ruled out and James managed to deny Corluka who possibly took a second to long to take his chance. With the end of extra time approaching, Didane broke free and left Palacios for dead before being brought down and the referee generously sparing the red card. Former Spurs player Prince-Boateng stepped up and placed a good spot kick beyond Gomez's reach to conclude the match. Half the Spurs fans had headed for the exits before the spot kick was taken knowning the game was up and 6 minutes later Portsmouth had pulled off an amazing semi final upset. Having tasted Wembley defeat twice I could relate the dejection from around me but what an amazing turn of events for Portsmouth fans.

Fulham v Tottenham Hotspur Sixth Round, Saturday 6th March 2010

After the 5th round matches had concluded, I had a slightly uneasy feeling about the prospects for the quarter finals. Part of this was the fact that there were still 4 replays still to be concluded and the other part was worry over whether I'd be able to get a ticket for the game. Looking at the options, I immediately ruled out a trip to Portsmouth as it was still uncertain as to whether they would still be in business by the time the game came round. The other two teams that were certain to be at home were Chelsea and Fulham, each awaiting the winner of the two replays I had seen in the previous round. I felt my chances of securing a ticket would be better if they went on open sale and Fulham duly did this two days before the replay date and as there was also the chance that Bolton would be the visitors was also a factor. Sadly for me, Bolton were comprehensively beaten 4-0 but I was just relieved I had a ticket in hand and all my travel arrangements were made.

The other advantage of the tie I had selected was that, being on a Sunday, I could go clubbing on Friday night as I had Saturday to recover and I already had Monday off work already. Everything was looking good until last Wednesday night, when ITV were going through the weekends FA Cup fixtures after the England game and I could swear I heard them say that the Fulham game was on Saturday and not Sunday. A quick check of the ticket revealed that I had made an almighty cock-up and the game was indeed on the Saturday, and all my pre-booked travel was for the Sunday. At this late stage, the cost of return travel by train had rocketed up to £65 return so I had to bite the bullet and go by coach instead, which was still mercifully cheap. Heading down was not too bad, leaving Manchester at 10.30am with a 3pm arrival, but coming back the only option was the 23.30 National Express service getting me back to Manchester at about 05.30 on the Sunday morning.

Thankfully, I managed to get myself up in time to make the coach down, albeit on about 3 hours sleep and feeling like one of the living dead. Despite Megabus having the most arse-numbingly uncomfortable seating I have ever found on a coach I managed to get back another 3 hours sleep and upon a slightly earlier than scheduled arrive at London Victoria I was now feeling up for the cup and ready for some food. I was fortunate to find a fine pub just around the corner from the station and availed myself of a very decent pint of London Pride and some excellent venison sausages and mash.

The trip to the ground was straight forward, having done it back in January, a quick change of trains at Clapham Junction to Putney, down Putney High Street, across the Thames and joining the crowds heading through the park. Again there was a nice friendly atmosphere between the fans and it was nice to see a couple with divided loyalties for the day.



On paper todays game promised much, Fulham were in a healthy 9th position in the league and had just knocked holders Shaktar Donetsk out of the Europa League and were now looking forward to taking on the mighty Juventus in the last 16 of the competition. Tottenham, who have won the cup 8 times in the past, are currently occupying the 4th Champions League berth in the league. To get to this stage, Fulham had a relatively easy path since I had last seen them with victories over Accrington Stanley and Notts County. Tottenham had started their run with a 4-0 victory over Peterborough but had made slightly harder work against Leeds United and then Bolton, requiring a replay on each occasion to progress.

For this game, I decided to opt for the Riverside Stand which would give me a different perspective on the ground and would also put the late afternoon sun behind me. Although not as impressive as the Johnny Haynes Stand, it does boast an excellent terrace behind the stand with views of the Thames for fans to enjoy their pre-match drinks and food.
Taking my seat for the game, I found myself right down near the front and next to the Fulham dug-out which was the closest I've probably been the action since my trip to Buxton way back in the 4th Qualifying Round.


After all the drama that I had gone through to get to the game, maybe I should have anticipated that the game would be a bit of an anti-climax. Both teams were playing a passing game but to little effect from an attacking point of view. Tottenham had the bulk of the possession and came the closest to scoring with a fine saves from Schwarzer denying England's midweek goal-hero, Peter Crouch as well as Niko Kranjcar.



The second half failed to be much of an improvement on the first half, Fulham edging a bit more into the game and managed to test Tottenham's Gomez with a few good chances from Duff and Gera. A little light relief from the action on the pitch was provided by home substitutes warming up on the exercise bike. Tottenham threw their FA Cup talisman Jermain Defoe in to the action as a substitute but he too failed to break the deadlock and the final score of 0-0 was a result that was a fair reflection and both managers will fancy their chances of trying to progress to the semi-final at the second time of asking.


So with Fulham and Tottenham being left to sort out who will get face Portsmouth in the semi-final, my next FA Cup game should be at Wembley but I'm not afraid to admit I'm slightly nervous about my prospects of securing a ticket but fingers are well and truly crossed for me in the meantime.

Bolton Wanderers v Tottenham Hotspur Fifth Round, Sunday 14th February 2010

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.