Tue 20 March 2007, 12:00
Tottenham HotspurMartin Jol was left to reflect on two wonder goals as Chelsea ended our FA Cup dreams in Monday night's quarter-final replay at the Lane.
Martin Jol was left to reflect on two wonder goals as Chelsea ended our FA Cup dreams in Monday night's quarter-final replay at the Lane.
Andrei Shevchenko's bolt from the blue 10 minutes into the second half and Shaun Wright-Phillips' dipping volley six minutes later put Jose Mourinho's men in the driving seat in what had been a close encounter at the Lane.
It was a contrasting tie to the thrilling 3-3 draw at Stamford Bridge eight days ago and we certainly edged the replay in terms of territorial advantage but the well-oiled machine that is Chelsea's defence - marshalled again by fit-again John Terry - kept chances to a minimum.
It was the same story at the other end, as Chelsea were restricted to Michael Ballack's shot just wide in the first half before Shevchenko and Wright-Phillips struck.
Stunned by those goals, we still mustered a comeback when Dimitar Berbatov was hacked down by Ricardo Carvalho and Robbie Keane slotted home the penalty with 11 minutes left.
With Michael Dawson pushed up front and Berbatov, Keane, Jermain Defoe and Aaron Lennon all on the pitch, we frantically searched for the equaliser but the ball wouldn't run for us in the Chelsea box.
"You can't say that the best team won but what can you say if you score a goal like Shevchenko's? It was a great goal and that's what he's there for," reflected a downbeat Martin afterwards.
"It's not the difference betweem them and us because we've got the players who can do the same and they have done in recent weeks.
"In the first half-hour we were on top, we controlled the game and the disappointing thing was we lacked a bit of cutting edge.
"In other games before this we played in a similar way but created chances as well, so all credit to their defence, that's the difference between them and other teams - their defence was strong and that was the reason we couldn't do what we did before.
"In the second half we were on top of them again for 10 minutes and then they scored a goal out of nothing. Normally they control games and score their goals but you can't say that this time.
"Even at 1-0 I had the feeling we could beat them but it wasn't to be.
"It is a big disappointment but I can't fault our players because they did everything."
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