Spurs 6-1 Rochdale - report from Wembley

A perfect hat-trick from Fernando Llorente helped us to a resounding FA Cup fifth round replay win against Rochdale at a snowy Wembley Stadium on Wednesday evening – but that doesn’t begin to tell the story of a crazy game!

The Spanish striker hit a 12-minute second half treble, Heung-Min Son netted a brace of his own and Academy graduate Kyle Walker-Peters scored his first professional goal as we turned on the style after the interval, having seen two goals disallowed - the first one by the Video Assistant Referee - in the first period and our League One visitors draw level after Son’s opener.

The drama began after just six minutes when Erik Lamela tucked home a loose ball which seemingly gave us the lead, only for VAR Graham Scott to advise referee Paul Tierney to disallow the goal for a foul by Fernando Llorente in the build up.

We did open the scoring on 23 minutes with Heung-Min Son curling home from just inside the area and we thought we’d doubled our lead five minutes later when Son converted from the penalty spot, awarded thanks to VAR after Matt Done’s foul on Kieran Trippier. But the South Korean stopped midway through his penalty run-up, an illegal manoeuvre, and so the goal was ruled out.

Rochdale took full advantage and levelled the game through Stephen Humphrys, almost going ahead just before half-time when Andrew Cannon beat Michel Vorm but not the far post.

There was real bewilderment inside Wembley at half-time following the events of the first half, but thankfully the players cleared their heads quickly during the break and blitzed Rochdale with four goals in the opening 20 minutes of the second period to put the tie to bed.

Llorente did most of the damage, chipping Dale goalkeeper Josh Lillis with his right foot before poking home with his left and then heading in from close range, all within the space of 12 minutes and thanks to great build-up play from those behind him.

Son converted Lamela’s pass for 5-1 after 65 minutes and there was a great moment deep into stoppage time when Walker-Peters played a one-two with Dele Alli and beat Lillis with a right-foot shot.

The victory sees us progress to the FA Cup quarter-finals where we will face a trip to Swansea City on Saturday, March 17, kick-off at 12.15pm at the Liberty Stadium.

Team News

Mauricio Pochettino made nine changes to the team that won at Crystal Palace on Sunday - only Eric Dier and Lamela retained their places in the starting XI. Nine members of the team started the first game against Rochdale at the Crown Oil Arena, with Toby Alderweireld and Victor Wanyama not involved this time.

Key Action

GOAL DISALLOWED BY VAR – 6mins
Our first chance came on five minutes when Llorente headed well over from Lamela’s corner and we thought we’d scored a minute later, referee Tierney initially awarding the goal when Lillis palmed out Son’s shot and Lamela tapped in the rebound. But after consultation with the Video Assistant Referee, Scott, the goal was ruled out, presumably for a foul by Llorente after Lillis had spilled the shot, but no-one inside the ground knew! At the other end, Done fizzed an angled drive just past Vorm’s far post as the game opened up at a great pace in the early stages.

GOAL: SPURS 1-0 ROCHDALE – HEUNG-MIN SON – 23mins
We had penalty appeals waved away after Lucas Moura appeared to be brought down by Jimmy McNulty inside the area, but nothing was given and no replay was asked for either, but we went ahead on 23 minutes with a well-worked goal. Trippier played a neat ball inside to Lamela, who found Son on the left edge of the box. He cut inside two defenders and whipped a shot past Lillis to break the deadlock.

PENALTY DISALLOWED – 28mins
Confusion reigned even more five minutes later. First Trippier was breaking down the right but was hauled back by Done. The referee awarded a free-kick, but after further instruction from the VAR, pointed to the spot instead as Trippier had gone down inside the area. Son stepped up, then stopped his run and slotted past Lillis, only for Tierney to disallow the goal for Son’s illegal run-up. He then booked Son and gave a free-kick to Rochdale.

GOAL: SPURS 1-1 ROCHDALE – STEPHEN HUMPHRYS – 31mins
With the stadium still in a stunned state, the visitors took full advantage and levelled the scores. Andrew Cannon sent a lovely ball over our defence for Humprhys, who took one touch as he rounded Vorm and tucked the ball into the back of the net. We were rocked by the setback and took a while to settle, but continued to attack with vigour, Lucas gliding past three defenders before seeing his cross blocked before Lamela headed straight at Lillis.

WOODWORK: CANNON CANNONS AGAINST THE POST – 45mins
The visitors almost went ahead just before the interval when Vorm’s clearance was blocked and collected by Humphrys 30 yards from goal. He played in Cannon who struck a low left-foot shot past Vorm’s outstretched fingers but against the foot of the far post and the danger was cleared.

GOAL: SPURS 2-1 ROCHDALE – FERNANDO LLORENTE - 47mins
After all the bizarre drama of the first half, everyone needed half-time to recover! And just two minutes after the restart we were back in front when Lucas broke through the middle of the pitch and played the perfect pass in to Llorente, who produced a neat finish to clip the ball over the advancing Lillis.

GOAL: SPURS 3-1 ROCHDALE – FERNANDO LLORENTE – 53mins
As the snow continued to fall, our Spanish striker quickly added his second of the game and again, it was another neat move. Lucas drove through midfield once more before leaving the ball for Son, who delayed before releasing a lovely incisive pass for Lucas breaking down the right channel of the area. He squared for Llorente to tap home and settle some of the anxiety around Wembley!

GOAL: SPURS 4-1 ROCHDALE – FERNANDO LLORENTE – 59mins
And in the blink of an eye it was 4-1, with Llorente completing a 12-minute hat-trick. We were starting to open up the League One side every time we attacked, mostly down our right flank, and when Moussa Sissoko and Son combined with the latter dinking a cross into the six-yard box from the goal-line, there was Llorente to nod home.

GOAL: SPURS 5-1 ROCHDALE – HEUNG-MIN SON – 65mins
There was a change to our line-up as Mousa Dembele replaced Harry Winks, but no let-up in our thirst for goals as we added another on 65 minutes. This time our attacking midfield trio all played a part as Lucas threaded a pass in to Lamela, whose low cross split the defence and allowed Son to tap into an empty net.

GOAL: SPURS 6-1 ROCHDALE – KYLE WALKER-PETERS – 90+4mins
We almost added a sixth goal when Lamela was fouled 25 yards from goal, stepped up and curled the set-piece against the post with substitute Dele smacking the rebound straight at Lillis, while the visitors nearly added to their tally but Ian Henderson’s header was saved by Vorm. A final flurry came in the 94th minute as Walker-Peters came inside off the left flank, played a one-two with Dele and beat Lillis to round off a most bizarre game of football!

Mauricio Pochettino said

“I’m so happy because the job is done, we are in the quarter-finals and that was our objective. I’m happy for different players, for Fernando Llorente with his hat-trick and Kyle Walker-Peters because he scored, and I think the performance was good. The first half was so difficult, it’s so difficult to stop and start and be focused on the game but in the end I’m happy with the result and now we’re in the quarter-finals. The first half was so difficult to maintain the focus because of a lot of controversial decisions from the VAR but in the end I’m happy, in the second half we were focused on playing football and then we fully deserved it after the performance.”

Fernando Llorente said

“I’m feeling very good. It’s important for me because always for a striker when you score goals you have more confidence. I needed to score and I’m very, very happy to help the team. It’s crazy (to score three in 12 minutes) but it’s football. Sometimes when you are working well and doing good things, this moment arrives and I’m very happy to score these goals.”

Match Data

Spurs (4-2-3-1): Vorm (c), Trippier, Dier, Foyth, Rose, Winks (Dembele 62), Sissoko, Lucas (Walker-Peters 82), Lamela, Son (Dele 68), Llorente. Substitutes (not used): Gazzaniga, Sanchez, Eriksen, Kane.

Rochdale (3-5-2): Lillis, McGahey, McNulty, Delaney, Rafferty, Cannon (Adshead 76), Camps, Kitching (Thompson 64), Done, Henderson (c), Humphrys (Davies 58). Substitutes (not used): Moore, Ntlhe, Rathbone, Inman.

Goals: Spurs – Son 23, 65 Llorente 47, 53, 59, Walker-Peters 90+4; Rochdale – Humphrys 31.

Yellow cards: Spurs – Son, Lamela.

Referee: Paul Tierney.

Attendance: 24,627.

Man of the Match

Fernando Llorente was voted Man of the Match by our supporters with 47 per cent of the votes on social media.

Up Next

We’re back at Wembley Stadium on Saturday for the second of three consecutive home matches in three different competitions, as we entertain Huddersfield in Premier League action. The Terriers currently sit 14th in the table, with eight wins from their 28 matches so far. Three of those have come on the road – against Crystal Palace (3-0), Watford (4-1) and last weekend against West Brom (2-1). Kick-off is at 3pm.