The mighty cockerels almost choked last night…hence the highly distasteful (yet creatively funny) topic title.
"With five minutes to go it was looking like the most embarrassing night of my life in football," said Harry Redknapp, Tottenham’s manager. Long story short, we began last night’s Carling Cup semi-final second-leg game with a seemingly insurmountable 3 goal lead against lower-division Burnley. Due to injuries and a large lead, many backups and youngsters started the game. Most notably, our young goalie Alnwick got his first start in a Tottenham jersey.
Sheltie and I turned on the game, and settled in for a comfortable 90 minutes of “running out the clock”. Unfortunately, it was a cold, rainy, and muddy night away from home…and on a pitch that looked like it doubled as a prairie dog sanctuary. I then realized that my DVR had recorded the game for a puzzling 3 hours. A sudden sense of dread filled me. Why would this game be recorded for 3 hours unless it went to extra time and/or penalty kicks?
About 30 minutes in we gave up a free kick about 25 yards out. Our young goalie, literally swimming in his over-sized wet jersey, strategically positioned himself on the far side of the goal leaving a gaping hole. The only thing he didn’t do was put up a sign and an arrow that said “shoot it here”. The bending free kick went in the open goal, and all Alnwick could do was flap his arms wildly in the air as if demonstrating why humans can’t fly.
Stacey later joined us, and so I unwisely opened my mouth and said the one thing you never want to say while watching sports: “if Burnley score again…” Of course, shortly thereafter, the “comment curse” delivered and they scored again. My heart sank because I knew that if they scored one more goal they would knock us out on a tie-breaker.
With 2 minutes left in the game our keeper, in very much “Robinson-esque” way, dropped a cross after colliding with two of our own defenders. Result: goal. The referee blew the whistle to end regular time. As things currently stood, we had to score in extra-time or be eliminated in a humiliating way on par with our “3 goal halftime lead only to lose 4-3 to Man City debacle in the past”.
Actually, Harry, it was 2 minutes to go on the clock. After a few neat, one-touch passes, “Pav” knocked home a centering pass from the wing which deflected off of the goalie’s glove and into the net, saving “massive face” for everyone associated with the club (fans included). There’s never a dull moment with this club… At least now we’ll get pummeled in the final by a better team (United), instead of adding more misery to an already dire season. Then again, that’s what we thought about the final last year and we actually pulled off the win.