Tottenham Defeat Carlisle United in Capital One Cup
By Logan Holmes
Andros Townsend – a threat and a goal against Carlisle
Tottenham had a comfortable victory over Carlisle United to progress to the 4th Round of the Capital One Cup. A goal from Tottenham’s ‘man of the moment’ Jan Vertonghen gave them an interval lead while Andros Townsend and Gylfi Sigurdsson added second half goals to secure a deserved win.
Carlisle United 0 Tottenham Hotspur 3
Scorers: Vertonghen, Townsend, Sigurdsson
Team: Cudicini; Smith, Caulker, Dawson, Vertonghen (Walker); Huddlestone; Falque, Mason (Carroll), Sigurdsson, Townsend; Dempsey (Obika) Subs: (unused) Gomes, Lennon, Defoe, Sandro
Andre Villas-Boas made a number of changes to the team which defeated Queen’s Park Rangers on Sunday. He sent out a Tottenham side with a nice balance of senior players, squad members and younger players who were being given an opportunity to impress. Carlo Cudicini came in with neither Brad Friedel not Hugo Lloris included in the match squad. Adam Smith, Ryan Mason, Iago Falque and Andros Townsend started along with the experienced Tom Huddlestone and Michael Dawson who captained the team. The injuries at left back meant that Jan Vertonghen was again used on the left side of defence.
Carlisle United who have been playing well in League One made only one change from the team which won at Coventry City at the weekend, Higginbotham replacing the Cup-tied Garner.
The home team started well as both teams looked bright and lively. During the opening fifteen minutes Carlisle had a few corners but didn’t cause too many alarms to the Tottenham defence and after nine minutes the Carlisle goalkeeper made a good save from an Iago Falque shot. The game then became rather disjointed with neither side able to retain the ball and Spurs were rather careless with their passing. Spurs always posed the greater threat as Clint Dempsey headed over and then he had a shot cleared off the line with the goalkeeper lying on the ground. Ryan Mason had a number of strikes on the Carlisle goal but failed to get them on target.
After half an hour Carlisle mounted a short period of pressure but the Spurs defence was marshalled well by Michael Dawson. Spurs responded immediately when Jan Vertonghen rose to meet a free-kick from Sigurdsson and headed home after 37 minutes.
Tottenham started the second half in a more positive manner but gave the ball away needlessly providing Carlisle with an opportunity to threaten but Danny Cadamarteri shot wide. Spurs started to dominate and Vertonghen put in a dangerous cross but no-one was on hand to put the ball into the net. Immediately after, Townsend collected the ball at the half-way line and went on a run taking on two defenders and cut in to shot on goal low past Gillespie after 53 minutes from thirty yards. This gave Spurs the opportunity to relax and as they took control of the game the Carlisle manager introduced three substitutes with thirty minutes to play.
Townsend was causing problems and with twenty minutes remaining he created another goalscoring chance with a cross which Mason headed towards goal but the keeper saved well and then again to deny Sigurdsson with his follow up effort. The final Spurs’ goal came with two minutes remaining as Kyle Walker who had replaced Vertonghen crossed for Sigurdsson to head home.
It was a very comfortable and pleasing win for Tottenham with Michael Dawson again showing his worth in a Tottenham shirt. Vertonghen and Sigurdsson both scored their first goals for Spurs while Townsend was dangerous and created opportunities for himself and others. Andre Villas-Boas will have been pleased to have won without any alarms and without having to use any of the senior players who were on the bench as they prepare for the visit to Old Trafford on Saturday evening.
Tottenham will now travel to play Norwich City and renew acquaintances with Chris Hughton and Sebastien Bassong in the next round at Carrow Road the end of October.