FA Cup round-up:Tottenham are on their way to Wembley, where they will play Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final after battling past Bolton 3-1 on an emotional night at White Hart Lane. Bolton had weathered wave after wave of Tottenham attacks, with goalkeeper Adam Bogdan in inspired form, when Ryan Nelson finally breached the dam with a 74th minute back-post header.
Three minutes later Jermain Defoe teed up Gareth Bale for the second to settle a quarter-final tie that was rearranged following the collapse of Fabrice Muamba in the original fixture nine days ago. Kevin Davies scored a late consolation for Bolton before Louis Saha applied the coup de grace, beating Bogdan from 25 yards with the final kick of the game.
It was tough on Bogdan, whose heroics had kept Bolton in the game for so long. However, Spurs performance was dominant.
Both sets of players had warmed up in T-shirts which read “Uniting for Fabrice” on the front and “thank you for your support for Fabrice” on the back. The match was preceded by a warm minute of applause and chants of “Fabrice Muamba”, which were reprised, significantly, after 41 minutes, the time he suffered a cardiac arrest in the original tie.
It took 78 minutes for medics to resuscitate Muamba and he remains in intensive care but his progress in the last nine days has been described as “encouraging”. The playing shirts from tonight’s game were to be signed by the players and auctioned off, with all proceeds to be split between the London Chest Hospital and three heart charities.
The match programme featured messages of thanks to the medical teams from both clubs and the global football community from Bolton manager Owen Coyle, Muamba’s father Marcel and his fiancee Shauna Magunda. Dr Andrew Deaner, the Spurs fan and heart specialist who ran from the stands to assist in Muamba’s treatment and has continued to oversee his recovery, was a guest in the club’s boardroom.
Striker Nikica Jelavic helped to book Evertontheir semi-final date with arch-rivals Liverpool as Sunderland'sdreams turned to dust with a 2-0 home defeat. The Croatia international fired the visitors ahead in their quarter-final replay with 24 minutes gone, but then passed up a series of opportunities to add to his tally on a night when the men from Merseyside were more than a match for their hosts.
It took a 56th-minute own goal from Black Cats substitute David Vaughan to ease David Moyes’ men further clear, and although the Wearsiders battled all the way to the whistle in front of a boisterous crowd of 43,140, there was no way back.
Everton simply had too much for their hosts with Marouane Fellaini, Leon Osman and Magaye Gueye outstanding in the middle of the field as they set up a chance to gain revenge for their derby defeat earlier this month. The visitors only arrived at the Stadium of Light an hour before kick-off due to heavy traffic, but they showed few ill effects as they set about the task of extending their extraordinary recent dominance over the Black Cats.
They had lost none of the previous 16 meetings between the two sides in all competition before kick-off, and the chances of them doing so tonight looked remote throughout. Sunderland battled manfully until referee Lee Probert finally drew proceedings to a conclusion but never looked like finding a way back into the contest and were ultimately well beaten on the night.
