Forest earn replay with gutsy display

FA Cup Fifth round/Tottenham Hotspur 1 Nottingham Forest 1: Nottingham Forest will have enjoyed yesterday's reminder that money cannot buy everything.

Last month they saw Tottenham take their two best players, Andy Reid and Michael Dawson, for a combined £8 million. Yet, even without that pair, the Championship strugglers were good enough to frustrate Spurs and earn a deserved replay.

Reid and Dawson had to watch because they are cup-tied and a few choruses of "Are you watching, Andy Reid?" could be heard from the Forest fans. Tottenham could have done with the Republic of Ireland international on the pitch on an afternoon when their creativity and crossing were well below par.

If Spurs were poor, Forest can take some of the credit. On this evidence it is hard to believe they are fighting relegation as they concluded a fine weekend for the lower divisions. They followed Sheffield United, Burnley and Brentford in holding Premiership clubs, while Leicester won at Charlton. No side from outside the top flight has been beaten in this round so far.

It would have been harsh had Forest lost, even if they spent much of this game on the back foot. They defended in numbers, fought hard and were a menace on the break, notably though the excellent Kris Commons. They had at least as many clear opportunities as Spurs and would almost certainly have won had Paul Robinson not denied Commons for the fourth time late on.

Tottenham will take few positives from the match. Going forward they lacked spark and were too often opened up on the counter-attack. They had several chances and hit a post at 0-0 through Michael Brown but their dominance of possession did not produce enough decisive crosses or passes to break down well organised opponents. "The service was getting worse and worse," said the Tottenham head coach, Martin Jol. He mentioned a few openings that were created but admitted: "If you play against a lower division side you need to open them up and we didn't do that down the flanks."

The goal that Spurs scored was down to an awful error by the otherwise impressive Forest goalkeeper Colin Doyle, who allowed a tame Jermain Defoe free-kick to slip through his grasp. Having benefited from that howler, Spurs not only failed to press home their advantage but allowed Gareth Taylor a soft equaliser.

Doyle's worries that he might cost Forest the game were expunged when Alan Roger's long ball caught Spurs out. Lesley King hesitated and Taylor beat the onrushing Robinson to the ball, nodding it past him before tapping into an empty net.

Forest manager Gary Megson's priority is to avoid relegation and he trusts his players will take heart from this. "What we have to do is play like that in every game between now and the end of the season and hopefully finish better."