Sorry Spurs knocked out of FA Cup despite late surge

Aston Villa survive, and the nature of this FA Cup tie might mean Thomas Frank does, too.

- MIGUEL DELANEY

For this week at least.

His Tottenham Hotspur players at least gave it a go, which is all that most supporters would say they want. Many had been loudly booing with Villa 2-0 up at halftime. A few still were at full-time, but the anger had been tempered by a rousing second-half display in which they pushed Unai Emery's side to the edge.

That stopped the atmosphere around this tie getting toxic, where so many other games on the day offered that old-fashioned magic.

The very responses still said a lot. Villa so relished securing the win that Ollie Watkins vigorously celebrated the final whistle to his fans, albeit very close to Joao Palhinha's face, which resulted in a push and a lot of afters.

Frank did defend his player, saying that Watkins was “provoking” it a bit in that he could have walked a slightly different route, and saying that Spurs “need passion” and “also cool heads”.

Tottenham have been so starved of that kind of conviction that a club previously seen as having a special relationship with the FA Cup were left consoled by a defiant elimination.

The truth is that it couldn't have got much worse. Villa's two goals – from Emi Buendia and Morgan Rogers, respectively – were taken with such ease that it looked like a tie involving a Premier League side and one much lower in the pyramid.

Unai Emery's team were almost indulging themselves, as could be witnessed in the Buendia flick back for Rogers. How couldn't they when Youri Tielemans was able to play the ball straight through the four-man midfield for Buendia's own first goal? The second goal then involved some supremely slick one-touch football.