Scrappy Spurs See off Newport

FA Cup

Result: Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 Newport County

Date: 07 February 2018

Venue: Wembley Stadium

Tottenham Hotspur progressed to the fifth round of the FA Cup with a scrappy 2-0 win over Newport County at Wembley Stadium in Wednesday night’s replay.

Newport took the game to a sloppy-looking Spurs in the early stages, with the hosts seemingly not having learned their lesson from the 1-1 draw in the reverse fixture.

However, the complexion of the game changed in the 26th minute, when Dan Butler turned Moussa Sissoko’s ball aimed across the face of goal into the net.

Tottenham found their flow and doubled their lead in the 34th minute. Son Heung-Min’s clever pass set up Erik Lamela, who calmly dinked the ball across the keeper and into the goal from close range.

There was little in the way of early second half action. However, once again, Spurs began to take control as time went on. After Lamela and Fernando Llorente combined well to tear the Newport defence to shreds, Joe Day did well to keep out the former’s shot in the 65th minute.

Mauricio Pochettino’s men piled wave after wave of pressure onto their visitors, but weren’t as clinical as usual in front of goal.

Fernando Llorente twice spurned glorious opportunities to put the ball in the back of the net — first from a 76th minute header and then from a close-range volley three minutes later. Then, in the 83rd minute, Dele Alli struck the crossbar after being played through by Christian Eriksen.

However, Tottenham’s lead seldom looked under threat and they march on to face Rochdale in the next round.