Harry Redknapp's substitutes climbed off the bench to fire
Tottenham into the FA Cup semifinals with a 3-1 win over Fulham at
White Hart Lane.
Trailing to Bobby Zamora's opener, Redknapp introduced David
Bentley at the interval and the winger levelled within two minutes,
then Roman Pavlyuchenko came on and netted his ninth goal in eight
games.
Eidur Gudjohnsen, who would not have started if Spurs had all
their players fit, then booked a place at Wembley next month to
face Redknapp's former club Pompey.
It means Spurs are within sight of finals in three
consecutive seasons after winning the Carling Cup in 2008 and
falling at the final hurdle a year ago.
For Fulham, it was the 50th game of their long season but
they still have Europa League glory to aim for - they just failed
to maintain their momentum after an impressive first half against
Redknapp's men.
Zamora was one of five former Spurs players in Fulham's side.
Another two had early efforts, skipper Danny Murphy with a volley
from 25 yards and then Simon Davies unleashed an angled drive
towards the top corner that Heurelho Gomes needed to parry.
After his fine form this season, it was no surprise, however,
when Zamora opened the scoring after 18 minutes.
Damien Duff was allowed to carry the ball towards the penalty
area and as home defenders backed away he slipped the ball through
to Zamora, who curled his finish past Gomes and into the bottom
corner.
It was Zamora's 17th goal of the season and he looked
completely different to the player who arrived at Spurs in 2003 and
stayed for just over six unhappy months.
His form has made him an England candidate and after his goal
against Juventus last week he is showing Fabio Capello, who was in
the stands, he has the taste for the big stage.
The Italian would have noted Zamora also looking after Peter
Crouch in his own penalty area when Spurs had set-pieces, then he
almost doubled the lead just before the break when Zoltan Gera
floated a ball to the far post.
Spurs appeared to be lacking Aaron Lennon's pace but most of
their attacks were going through Gudjohnsen. The Iceland forward
forced a save from Mark Schwarzer with a backheel and chested the
ball down for Luka Modric to fire wide.
But it needed a change to inspire Spurs, so boss Redknapp
made his move at the interval, bringing on Bentley and Tom
Huddlestone for Niko Kranjcar and Benoit Assou-Ekotto - and it took
just 79 seconds for one of his replacements to make an impact.
Stephen Kelly's trip on Gareth Bale earned the Fulham
full-back a yellow card, leading to Bentley's inswinging free-kick
curling straight in, helped by Vedran Corluka beating the offside
trap and ducking under the ball to distract Schwarzer.
Encouraged by the equaliser, Bale drove over the crossbar
with a fearsome half-volley, then Bentley almost curled in another
free-kick from a similar position - but Schwarzer was ready on that
occasion.
Redknapp, however, needed to reorganise as Corluka picked up
an apparent ankle knock, leading to Pavlyuchenko being introduced
off the bench.
And Redknapp's substitute inflicted immediate damage again.
Bentley provided the assist, a looping cross from the right flank
that Pavlyuchenko met first time with a volley that beat Schwarzer
at the near post.
The next goal came in the 66th minute. Gudjohnsen started the
move with a driving run, Modric played him through with a return
pass and he flicked the ball past Schwarzer before bundling in.
Duff had a chance to get Fulham back in the tie but his
volley was saved by Gomes.
Zamora headed down the tunnel after being replaced with 13
minutes remaining. He was booked for a clash with Sebastien Bassong
but escaped a red following a foul on Bale shortly after.
