Tottenham hotspur where held to a 2-2 draw by a determined Rochdale side to force Tottenham into another replay of the FA cup after the initial against Newport. The London side who came from behind to secure an unlikely draw at Turin during the mid-week failed to reciprocate such form against the League minnows.
Mauricio Pochettino having been criticised prior to the game for failing to give any sort of priority to English cup competitions fielded nine full internationals in his starting lineup against Rochdale at the Spotland Stadium including January signing Lucas Moura and five more on the bench. Toby Alderweireld missed out of the Juventus party but was back in the lineup but did not perform as expected. Perhaps Pochettino discovered in his current formation, Mousa Dembele and Christian Eriksen are indispensable. Spurs were blunt in the Dane’s absence as they struggled to create cut chances and this affected the performance of Son Heung-min in the game.
Rochdale are rock bottom of League One and needed to put in a much-publicized better pitch for their esteemed visitors from the England top flight following what were perceived to be haughty comments from Pochettino in the build-up to the game. The Host started making the headlines with 45th minute from Captain Ian Henderson who swept home following neat work from Stephen Humphrys. Tottenham levelled the game 14 minutes after the break with a goal from Lucas. The Introduction of Dele Alli and Harry Kane in the second half swept things to Pochetinno’s Favor as the away side began to dominate the game. Their domination was reward in with a spot kick after Alli have been brought down in the box, Harry Kane made no mistake as he fired the club to the lead late on.
Rochdale boasted by the score-line decided to give it a go and were rewarded 2 minutes to the end of the game as substitute Steve Davies netted for the hosts after 92 of the 94 minutes to force replay at the wembely stadium. The result lay credence to the reputation of the FA cup