Depth the Difference for Tottenham Over Wycombe in FA Cup

For at least some of the Tottenham Hotspur players there had to be some sense of Déjà vu as Wycombe took a 1-0 lead in the FA Cup. However, that familiar feeling was probably even more true for Wycombe who again fell to defeat thanks to a late flurry of Tottenham goals. As the match went on and both teams went to their bench, Tottenham got stronger and stronger until they put things to bed, winning 1-4 in the FA Cup Fourth Round.

Wycombe Strong First 30

After a lot of rest, the question was if Wycombe was going to be rested or rusty heading into the match with Tottenham. It only took a few minutes to see Wycombe was well drilled and ready for Tottenham as the worked to pressure as best they could and spring forward to attack Tottenham.

At the time of Wycombe’s goal at 25 minutes, despite only 31% possession and completing just 48% of there passes at the time – according to whoscored.com – Wycombe was up 1-0 and had 5 shots to Tottenham’s 4. Further Wycombe had the only two shots on target and had more corners than Spurs 3 to 2.

However, following the goal, Wycombe really fell off the pace, as they managed only 1 shot the rest of the match and 1 more corner. Wycombe were not necessarily playing any differently than they were previously, but as their legs grew weary Spurs got stronger. The FA Cup magic that may have been buoyed by a raucous crowd was not available given the circumstances and Wycombe ran out of gas, while Tottenham filled the tank.

Tottenham got stronger as the game went on

With only 4 shots in those first 25 minutes, Tottenham managed 24 more in the last 65 minutes of the match. Eight of those 24 shots came in the space between the goal and halftime. Shortly after the goal as Gareth Bale was attacking he caused Joe Jacobson to pull something.

Fortunately for Wycombe, Bale’s effort went wide, unfortunately Jacobson was soon subbed off, beginning the overall Wycombe decline. Just a few minutes later Bale was attacking from Spurs right and then played the ball in to Moussa Sissoko. Sissoko’s shot deflected up over the outstretched Ryan Allsop, but bounced off the crossbar, back into Allsop’s hands on the ground.

A couple minutes later Erik Lamela is registering Tottenham’s first shot on goal and Spurs are picking up steam. Wycombe’s last effort on goal was off a free kick at the 43rd minute. The kick beat the wall, but not the post as it bounced wide.

Moments later Tottenham was attacking at the other end and as Lucas Moura played the ball to Harry Winks, the midfielder played a little curler right to the head of Japhet Tanganga. Tanganga beat the keeper, but not the post as again the opportunity went by. Finally, over a minute into injury time the moment came.

A long cross from Gareth Bale had been cleared out for a throw. Ben Davies quickly threw the ball in to Lucas Moura who took a touch and played a little ball toward the near post. Allsop stayed on his line expecting to collect off the bounce. Instead, Gareth Bale flashed diagonally in front of Allsop and touched the ball around the helpless keeper.

The goal was no less than Tottenham deserved given the the 12 shots in the first half. For Bale, he had a couple more clear cut opportunities earlier in the half but was able to make this last one count and tie the match for Spurs. In the second half the Wanderers never really had a chance to score.