Spurs add to Jol's wrinkles

FA Cup Fourth round/ West Brom 1 Tottenham 1: Tottenham Hotspur were spared an FA Cup embarrassment on Saturday courtesy of a disputed penalty and the framework of their goal but Martin Jol's feelings were not similarly spared by one of his former West Brom team-mates.

Jol, now the Tottenham manager, was making his first visit to The Hawthorns since the early 1980s and, inevitably, some old friends were in attendance.

"I always have excitement about my former colleagues," he said. "They're special, though I haven't seen them for 20 years or so. Alistair Robertson still looked the same - amazing. He said to me, 'You've changed'. I said, 'Yes, but you haven't been a manager. I get older every week'."

On the evidence of this disjointed display by the Dutchman's charges, which must have added a few more wrinkles to his brow and left him increasingly follically challenged, it is easy to see why.

Spurs, favourites to prevail at the expense of the Premiership's back markers, rode their luck to earn a replay on Saturday week.

West Brom twice hit the woodwork and with Robert Earnshaw tormenting the Spurs rearguard during the first period and capitalising on Anthony Gardner's indecision to put the hosts ahead, it was apparent why Jol appears to be collecting central defenders with the fervour with which Imelda Marcos purchases shoes.

Despite being able to call on Ledley King, an England international whose most productive years should be ahead of him, and having the England under-21 international Calum Davenport on loan at Southampton, Jol is understood to want Michael Dawson.

Jol refused to comment on that possibility, likewise on reports that Dawson's Nottingham Forest team-mate Andy Reid is also bound for White Hart Lane.

By contrast, he was fulsome in his defence of Jermain Defoe, who won and then converted the penalty to earn the replay.

"I can't imagine that it was a dive," he added. "In training Defoe always stays on his feet. He never falls down. He has got great balance. He's not the sort of player to dive."

West Brom's supporters did not concur, chanting "cheat" every time the England striker touched the ball thereafter. That was harsh, and Darren Purse, who was adjudged to have fouled Defoe, was more measured in his assessment of the incident.

"I didn't think it was a penalty," Purse admitted. "But I went down in the area, which is a cardinal sin for a defender. So I made it easy for him. I should have stayed on my feet."

There was little else to criticise in another spirited display by West Brom who, with Jonathan Greening and Zoltan Gera outstanding in midfield, belied their Premiership struggles.

Guardian Service