ANGE'S FRIGHT NIGHT

Boss Postecoglou given big scare... but Odobert fires Spurs into last 8

- MIKE WALTERS

NOTHING has ever been straightforward for Ange Postecoglou's Ministry of Fun.

But at drinking-up time in the last chance saloon, two-goal Wilson Odobert became the toast of Tottenham's European bounty hunters. Postecoglou's claim that he always wins a trophy in his second season at each club was down to the last drops of credibility until Odobert came to the rescue.

In the space of a week, Spurs went from looking more rattled than a tambourine in a church band to calling the tune like a jukebox. But they turned plain sailing into a four-act drama, swapping a vapid first-leg defeat in Holland eight days ago for a nerve-shredding salvage operation.

If the Thursday Night League is by no means the apex of big clubs ambitions, it offered Postecoglou a road to salvation.

Turning over Smorgasbord Rovers, Herdy Gerdy Rangers and Eskimo City in the group stages offers limited kudos, but for Spurs, any trophy is a step forward.

In the 40 years since Tony Parks' shoot-out heroics against Anderlecht delivered Tottenham's last triumph in Europe, Leicester City have lifted more cups and pots than Spurs.