Today I'm going back 31 years to 1991 and Tottenham's Rumbelows (League) Cup 2nd Round 2nd Leg tie against Third Division Swansea City. The game was played on a Wednesday evening under the lights at the old White Hart Lane and was attended by 20,198.
Featured in the programme, if not on the cover (yes that's Gary Lineker) was Scott Houghton who came on during the featured match as a substitute replacing David Tuttle. I've featured Scott before (search on "Houghton" in my blog if you want to know more about his subsequent police and TV careers!) but not David Tuttle who managed just 13 Football League appearances for Spurs before going on to establish himself at Sheffield United and Crystal Palace. In all Tuttle managed 201 League appearances (scoring 7 goals) before moving into management at Millwall in December 2005. Sadly for Tuttle, he didn't make it to the end of the season having failed to lift Millwall away from the relegation zone and, other than caretaker manager stints at Leeds United (it lasted just one day!) and Swindon Town, this was his only opportunity to manage in the Football League. Since then Tuttle has managed a few lower level non-league teams and he can currently be found at Combined Counties League side AFC Aldermarston, a club founded by workers at the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment (AWRE) who are wonderfully nicknamed "The Atom Men".
The 1st Leg at the Vetch Field, Swansea hadn't gone the way that most people would have expected with Spurs finding themselves the losers by one goal to nil. Fortunately there was still the 2nd Leg to come to save Tottenham and manager Peter Shreeves' blushes. With 15 minutes gone, Tottenham scored their first of the evening from a Gordon Durie cross which was headed home by Paul Allen. That was it for the scoring before half-time however and Spurs and Swansea went in at the break level on aggregate at 1-1. The decisive goal that gave Tottenham the lead came from the penalty spot and looked exceptionally dodgy to me. Gordon Durie went down rather easily in the penalty area (as he was apt to do) and the referee, very generously, pointed to the spot. Gary Lineker dinked the ball straight down the middle Panenka-style past the diving Roger Freestone in the Swansea goal and Spurs were ahead.
I think that Swansea realised that it wasn't going to be their night and that feeling must have been compounded when defender Derek Brazil put the ball into his own net from a Vinny Samways cross. Tottenham's fourth goal came from the boot of Paul Stewart hammering the ball home at Freestone's near post with one of those goals that the experts tell us shouldn't be allowed by the goal keeper. Just to further prove that it wasn't Swansea's night, Tottenham's fifth and final goal of the evening came from a Swansea corner! Swansea's short corner was intercepted by Gordon Durie who advanced quickly up the field before setting Vinny Samways clear and Samways fired the ball home from distance. There was just time left for Swansea to earn themselves a minor consolation as substitute Shaun Chappell scored for Frank Burrows' Swans to conclude the scoring at 5-2 on aggregate.
Spurs were drawn away in the 3rd Round to Grimsby Town at Blundell Park where they won 3-0 before disposing of Coventry City 2-1 at Highfield Road in the 4th Round. Norwich City were Tottenham's 5th Round (Quarter-Final) opponents and Spurs beat them 2-1 before meeting their match against Nottingham Forest in the two-legged Semi-Final which Forest won by 3-2 on aggregate after extra time. Forest would go on to lose to Manchester United in the Final at Wembley to a single Brian McClair goal.
CRB Match No. 738
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