Video Norwich City 2 - 1 Tottenham Hotspur

André Villas-Boas shrugged off the question. Yet Tottenham Hotspur’s fans will continue to ask it. Why do they find it so hard to hold on to a lead? West Bromwich Albion in August, Norwich City in September; Panathinaikos, Chelsea and Norwich again in October. Five times they have surrendered a winning position; many times more, they have been left clinging on.

This was perhaps the most spectacular of their late collapses. Tottenham’s slender advantage, deservedly earned through the outstanding Gareth Bale, was upended in a stunning closing act. A second-string Norwich side, galvanised by Chris Hughton’s second-half substitutions, scored two goals in three minutes, before watching with hands on heads as Mark Bunn saved Clint Dempsey’s penalty in the 89th minute.

“Do I think we deserved to win the game? It’s probably immaterial,” smiled Hughton. “Sometimes you need that little bit of fortune. But you’ve got to force the issue. It was a fairly cagey game until that second half, but once they get the goal, you’ve got to go for it.” The draw has dealt him another encounter with his predecessor Paul Lambert: a home quarter-final against Aston Villa.

By contrast, Villas-Boas was ruing yet another one that got away. While Norwich threw caution to the wind, the Portuguese seems to keep it as his golden rule. How else to explain the late change that saw defender Jan Vertonghen introduced as a holding midfielder?

The Belgian ultimately scored the equalising goal, an absent-minded flick of the ankle diverting Alex Tettey’s long-range shot past Hugo Lloris.



But a defiant Villas-Boas said: “If I bring on attackers, you would have put the question the other way round, so it is completely indifferent.

You can be punished in exactly the same way. Jan has experience playing in midfield, and we had to equal Norwich’s height when they brought on Holt. In the end, it is not one thing that determines the result.”

There is little doubt, however, that a more clinical side would have been well out of sight by the time Norwich launched their rearguard.

Bale was a delight to watch, starting on the right wing and tormenting Norwich left-back Marc Tierney. Here he was, cutting inside on his left foot. There he went, searing around the outside on his right. He was equally effective on the left wing in the second half.

Eventually his persistence was rewarded, as David Fox allowed him to squirm clear and tuck a low shot past Bunn from 20 yards.

On came Holt and Simeon Jackson, as Norwich went on the charge. Tottenham retreated deeper and deeper, and it was a familiar failing — a fallibility to aerial balls delivered into the penalty area — that ultimately cost them.

Tettey’s shot, deflected in off Vertonghen, came after failing to clear Robert Snodgrass’s corner six minutes from time. Three minutes later, Lloris parried Holt’s header into the path of Jackson, who lashed the ball in from close range.

Tierney then tripped Kyle Walker and referee Jon Moss deliberated before awarding the penalty. Dempsey went for placement, scuffing the ball low to Bunn’s left. Bunn guessed correctly and pushed the ball away. The roars said it all.

Capital One Cup draw

Leeds United v Chelsea
Swansea City v Middlesbrough
Norwich City v Aston Villa
Bradford City v Arsenal

Match details

Norwich (4-4-2): Bunn; Whittaker, Turner, R Bennett, Tierney; Snodgrass, Howson, Fox (Tettey 68), Surman (Holt 82); Butterfield (Jackson 68), Morison.
Subs: Rudd (g), Barnett, Garrido, E Bennett. Booked: Bunn.
Booked: Bunn
Tottenham (4-3-3): Lloris; Walker (Defoe 90), Dawson, Caulker, Naughton; Sigurdsson, Livermore (Huddlestone h-t), Carroll (Vertonghen 79); Bale, Dempsey, Falque.
Subs: Cudicini (g), Townsend, Smith, Lennon.
Booked: Bale
Referee: J Moss (West Yorkshire)