Harry Redknapp remains firmly on his way to Wembley, either as England manager or in a blaze of FA Cup glory.
Or both, although his normally fluent Tottenham team seemed to freeze in a cosy little stadium named in honour of a chilled food company.
Spurs never found a rhythm at the Lamex Stadium on Sunday and have to beat Stevenage in a replay squeezed between Barclays Premier League games against Manchester United and Everton before they can consider a quarter-final against Bolton.
FA chairman David Bernstein was present to offer support for the Cup.
“I think he was impressed with the football I served up,” joked Redknapp. “He’ll be thinking, ‘Who is this geezer?’ I just couldn’t see it happening for us. I always thought it would be tough with the pitch and the ball bobbing around.
“I thought we’d come here and win but the longer it goes, you start to think one mistake or a good set-piece from them and we’re out of the Cup.
“This is a good little club and it was a good atmosphere. In the end, we’ll take the draw and see if we can finish the job. We’re at home now, so we’ve a decent chance.”
Tottenham spluttered along in a new formation, with three centre halves, wing-backs and Gareth Bale in a free role behind strikers Jermain Defoe and Louis Saha.
Redknapp claimed he had been forced into it by injuries and illness which left him without, among others, Luka Modric, Rafael van der Vaart, Emmanuel Adebayor and Benoit Assou-Ekotto.
Adebayor tweaked a knee in training on Friday and, although his manager says there is no ligament damage, he is a doubt for Sunday’s derby against Arsenal. Assou-Ekotto had surgery on his groin last week and Modric had a fever.
Tottenham’s players did not adjust well to the unfamiliar shape and the threat of Bale vanished as he dropped deeper and deeper to collect the ball from his defenders.
With 20 minutes gone Redknapp emerged from the dug-out, looking angry and barking orders at his players.
They improved slightly, with left wing-back Danny Rose the most dangerous attacking option. Saha flashed a shot across the face of goal and Michael Bostwick cleared from his own goal-line after Michael Dawson’s powerful header.
The visitors wanted a penalty when Saha was challenged heavily from behind as he prepared to shoot, having accepted a pass from Jake Livermore neatly on his chest in front of goal. His effort lobbed up gently into the arms of Chris Day, the Stevenage goalkeeper who started his career at Tottenham and cannot have expected such a quiet afternoon.
Day was beaten, 10 minutes into the second half, when he parried a fierce low cross from Rose. It spilled kindly for Saha to convert but, on its way into the net, his shot clipped Scott Parker in an offside position. It was ruled out and this was as close as the 6,000 or so inside the Lamex would come to seeing a goal.
Carlo Cudicini scrambled away a header from Scott Laird as it looped towards the top corner and Joel Byrom lifted home fans from their seats with a terrific effort from 30 yards which scorched inches over the bar.
Byrom tested Cudicini with a low shot which the goalkeeper did not hold and Ryan Nelsen, solid on his Spurs debut, cleared the danger.
Tottenham were more balanced when they reverted to 4-4-2 for the last 26 minutes. Aaron Lennon gave them extra penetration when he came on late in the game for Rose. Bale finished at left back, a tribute to the Stevenage defence.
“This display and the way the season has gone can give us belief,” said Stevenage manager Gary Smith.
“You’ve got to give credit to our players for disrupting the flow. Scott Parker is a world-class player. I watched him against Newcastle dictating the game.
“My guys were able to disrupt that, to nick the ball, make challenges, unsettle him and that’s all part of the game.”
Stevenage have yet to concede a goal on the way to the fifth round of the competition for the first time. Spurs have not let one in, either. The goalless draw should have come as no surprise. – Daily Mail