Familiar pain for Tranmere

Tottenham - 4, Tranmere - 0: Spurs have already beaten one path to Cardiff, brushing aside Tranmere 4-0 away in October on their way to next Sunday's Worthington Cup final against Blackburn. Yesterday, they kept on course for a second visit, beating the same team by the same score.

A goal by Christian Ziege inside 10 minutes quelled a bright start by Tranmere and, though Rovers hung on for 25 minutes by the fingertips of John Achterberg and the hairs breadth by which a second bullet from the German flew by the far post, Gustavo Poyet effectively killed off the match before half-time.

Glenn Hoddle may now feel he has exorcised a ghost. In this round a year ago, when he was at Southampton, Saints led 3-0 at half-time only to lose 4-3, with Paul Rideout scoring a hat-trick.

That was the last in a sequence of results which have established Tranmere's cup reputation. An honours board at Prenton Park lists "memorable matches" - 18 in the last 14 years, including nine in the last three, but only 12 in the club's first 67 league years. That means an awful lot were forgettable.

Rovers also had a spot of revenge to seek. The clubs had met only once before in the Cup, in 1953, when Spurs, with their current president Bill Nicholson playing, won a replay 9-1.

Any hope of Tranmere adding to their roll of honour was quickly extinguished. They had come through four rounds, including two they normally bypassed, with 16 goals against lowly opponents.

The snap-tackle-pop of their midfield had given them control and their forwards bags of chances. Yesterday, though, they were as Shredded Wheat before the liquid speed of Tottenham's understanding.

Tim Sherwood lay deep in a holding and spreading role, consistently finding Mauricio Taricco and Ziege wide. Further forward, Teddy Sheringham pulled Tranmere's central defenders about by typically dropping off and gaps appeared behind.

Neither Darren Anderton (hamstring) nor Ledley King (tonsils), denied England action, were fit, but Ziege on the left was back from five week's injury, punishing Tranmere but not himself.

Until Spurs grew sloppy in the second half, Rovers only threat came at corners. Rideout, now 37 and scorer of Everton's Cup final winner against Manchester United in 1995, twice went close; Nick Henry miscued when misplaced; Jason Price had three stabs at the ball when Neil Sullivan got in a tangle; and Stuart Barlow blasted across goal from a narrow angle, but Spurs always had plenty in hand.

Sheringham potted the third when the ball dropped loose from Ferdinand's challenge on Achterberg. And Poyet, receiving from Sheringham, took his season's tally to 11 with a wicked deflection in injury-time.

Spurs may fancy their chances of emulating Arsenal's cup double of 1993. Certainly their league form - two wins in nine games - suggests the cups have been a distraction.

TOTTENHAM: Sullivan, Perry, Thatcher, Richards, Taricco, Sherwood, Poyet, Davies, Ziege (Etherington 88), Ferdinand (Iversen 78), Sheringham. Subs Not Used: Keller, Leonhardsen, Thelwell. Goals: Ziege 9, Poyet 36, Sheringham 64, Poyet 90.

TRANMERE: Achterberg, Roberts, Allen, Hill, Price, Koumas, Sharps, Henry (Mellon 71), Navarro, Parkinson, Rideout (Barlow 71). Subs Not Used: Murphy, Allison, Hinds. Booked: Sharps.

Referee: D Elleray (Harrow-on-the-Hill).