Tottenham scrape past Hull City in a thriller

Tottenham 2 Hull 2
Spurs win 8-7 on penalties. 1-1 after 90 minutes.
Tottenham supporters cranked up the volume inside White Hart Lane, but their team had to rely on penalties to scrape past Hull in a thrilling League Cup clash.

Gylfi Sigurdsson put the hosts ahead with an early contender for goal of the season, but the game went in to extra-time following a horrible gaffe from Brad Friedel.

Paul McShane put Hull on course for victory in extra-time, but Harry Kane made it 2-2 before Friedel saved Ahmed Elmohamady's penalty in a marathon shoot-out to set Spurs up with a quarter-final clash against West Ham.

The home side scored early, prompting Hull to cast off the defensiveness that so nearly brought them a point at this venue last weekend. But for all their ambition, however, it took a moment of clumsiness from the veteran Tottenham goalkeeper Brad Friedel to bring them level.

The first chance of the game fell to Hull, but Danny Graham failed to make better use of a Stephen Quinn cross.

Hull rotated their squad as much as they could but it was rotation of a different sort that most affected them as the game began, when the three Spurs forwards supporting Jermain Defoe bemused their markers by windmilling wildly across the pitch.

One gave the home side the lead in the 16th minute, as Sigurdsson collected Kyle Naughton's pass, turned and accelerated away from Curtis Davies in a single movement and then thumped a rising 25-yard drive past Eldin Jakupovic.

Opportunity to change
Having fallen behind, Hull's policy of containment seemed of little merit and an injury to Alex Bruce with half an hour played gave them an opportunity to change it. The defender made way for the German striker Nick Proschwitz and a minute later they threatened again. Ahmed Elmohamady's 30-yard shot was saved but spilled by Brad Friedel and this time Graham was denied by Younes Kaboul's excellent sliding challenge.

Aaron Mclean replaced Graham at the break and within 10 minutes had engineered two chances from an identical position on the edge of the area before setting up the equaliser. Released by George Boyd’s clever backheel he sped to the byline and pulled the ball across goal, where Davies stretched to divert it into Friedel and in.

Though Harry Kane, a substitute's substitute – Nacer Chadli having lasted only 10 minutes – had a goal disallowed for Defoe's handball in the build-up, Jakubovic was untroubled. When he was beaten, again by Kane with 30 seconds of stoppage time remaining, the shot rebounded off the woodwork and away to safety.
Guardian Service