Tottenham turned beating National League Tamworth into a monumental task and came close to abject humiliation before reaching the FA Cup fourth round after extra time.
Ange Postecoglou’s side were mind-numbingly poor in normal time at the Lamb Ground, then required a scrambled own goal from Tamworth’s Nathan Tshikuna to break the deadlock after 101 minutes.
Substitute Dejan Kulusevski added a superb strike, and then Brennan Johnson curled in a third after Postecoglou was forced to introduce his biggest attacking weaponry to break down Tamworth.
The home side, 96 places below Tottenham in the fifth tier of football’s pyramid, performed magnificently and could not have been begrudged one of the FA Cup’s biggest shocks had they clinched victory in normal time.
Goalkeeper Jas Singh, hero of the penalty shootout win over Burton Albion in the second round, saved crucially from James Maddison and Timo Werner, who also saw a header cleared off the line by Haydn Hollis, in normal time.
Spurs, however, lived right on the edge, with Tamworth arguably looking more likely to score in the final moments before extra time, especially when Antonin Kinsky saved crucially from Jordan Cullinane Liburd with seconds left.
Postecoglou had introduced Dominic Solanke from the bench after the hour but needed to call on Son Heung-min and Kulusevski at the start of extra time to attempt to inject life into a desperate display, but even then it took a huge slice of good fortune to break Tamworth’s superb resistance and organisation.
There was no good fortune about Kulusevski’s superb low strike that finally allowed Tottenham and Postecoglou some respite. Johnson’s third gave them a margin of victory that was harsh on their hosts.
