Hammers dump Spurs out of Cup
Print Edition
West Ham United piled more misery on managerless Tottenham Hotspur by coming from behind to book its place in the League Cup semifinals with a 2-1 win at White Hart Lane and Manchester United also reached the last four on Wednesday.
Tottenham, which sacked boss Andre Villas-Boas on Monday following its crushing 0-5 home defeat by Liverpool, looked on course for victory when forgotten man Emmanuel Adebayor volleyed it ahead.
But the north Londoners’ defensive frailties were exposed again as Matt Jarvis equalized with 10 minutes left and Modibo Maiga headed the winner shortly afterwards.
“We saw the shaken nerve ends of Tottenham when we scored. We then went for the jugular,” West Ham manager Sam Allardyce said on Sky Sports.
In the night’s other quarterfinal, Ashley Young scored his first goal in 18 months as champion United reached the last four with a 2-0 win at Stoke City in a match held up for 10 minutes by a hail storm in the first half.
West Ham’s reward was a two-legged semifinal against Manchester City, which booked its place in the last four on Tuesday, and United will play Sunderland, which shocked Chelsea in their quarterfinal.
Amid grumblings about Tottenham’s sterile attacking performances and stolid tempo, caretaker manager Tim Sherwood, touted by many as a potential long-term appointment, sought to make an immediate impression.
He cast aside Villas-Boas’s dogged commitment to playing with a solitary striker and brought Adebayor back into the fold for his first start of the season.
Spurs began with a spring in their step and laid siege to the West Ham goal in the opening stages, hemming the visitors into their own half and creating a string of good chances.
The script seemed to have been written when Adebayor put the hosts ahead in emphatic fashion, arriving late on to Jermain Defoe’s cross to smash home a volley off the underside of the bar.
It proved a false dawn, however, as West Ham leveled when Jarvis slammed the ball high into the roof of the net after Matt Taylor had flicked on a pass forward and Maiga thumped home a low header from Mohamed Diame’s cross.
“We started the game really well. We created chances in the first 20 minutes, but couldn’t make the breakthrough. Later we gave it away and encouraged West Ham — they got the breaks in the end,” said Tottenham’s caretaker boss.
England international Young was handed a rare United start with question marks hanging over his future at Old Trafford, but he reminded fans of his talent with a pile-driver of a shot from 20 meters to put the visitors ahead in the second half.
Left back Patrice Evra curled home a cool finish, clipping the ball into the far corner, to wrap up victory for David Moyes’s team with 12 minutes left.
“I’m glad we’re through. It will be a tough semifinal against Sunderland. Sunderland played well to beat Chelsea so anything can happen,” Moyes said.
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