Tottenham Hotspur 1 – 2 Chelsea 20/03/2007
Tottenham away is always the game many Chelsea fans look out for at the start of the season, however with this tie being a replay in the quarter final of the FA Cup the usual antipathy took on an extra dimension.
Despite meeting before midday for a evening kick off we still managed to get into the ground late after the police decided to photograph everyone in the pub – over three hundred people – individually before beginning the painfully slow escort to White Hart Lane.
The first leg – a three all draw in which Saloman Kalou had grabbed a dramatic late equaliser – had seen violent clashes at Parson’s Green after the game and the police were out in force to stop any repeat, half the Met seemed to be out for our amble up Tottenham High Road from Bruce Grove Station, being flanked by a helicopter, innumerable vans, police officers, the TSG and seemingly hundreds of barking Alsatians - 21st century football policing eh.
The game was well under way by the time we arrived, but wasn’t reflecting the cup tie atmosphere in the stands as the first half past without much action or incident. However, although after suffering our first league defeat at the Lane in 19 years in our previous visit in November and the tumultuous first match, we were worried that the hoodoo we’d held over Tottenham had swung the other way and thus a quiet first 45 wasn’t a bad thing.
Tottenham began the second half in the ascendency and the noise from the home fans intensified, but 10 minutes into the second half came the best moment of Shevchenko’s Chelsea career as he cut in from the right to drive a thunderous left foot drive past Paul Robinson from a ridiculously tight angle. Cue pandemonium amongst the four thousand travelling fans as a war cry of ‘Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea’ which made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up blend into a ‘3-1 and you fucked it up’.
Whilst Chelsea of old were known for their inconsistency, this side were made of sterner stuff, give us a second chance and you’ll regret it. Just over 5 minutes later and Wright Phillips made it two. ‘Normal service has resumed’ our fans taunted the home support with, just as we had with 6 years previously in another cup tie at the lane, then ‘Que Sera Sera’ we were buzzing.
The rest of the match was a frantic blur and although Keane pulled one back for the home side, typically of Mourinho’s Chelsea, we held on and marching into a semi final against Blackburn. Having already beaten Arsenal in the Carling Cup Final in Cardiff the quadruple was still on, ‘just like a team who’s gonna win the fucking lot, we shall not be moved’ we sang.
The players came over to embrace the fans, as they celebrated a Tottenham fan came on and aimed a punch at Frank Lampard, in all honesty it was a wild windmill that missed its target by some way, but the away end was seething, stewards in the lower tier held back Chelsea fans trying to get on to dish out some instant justice to the assailant. The air was thick with tension, it was going to be an interesting walk back to Seven Sisters…
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