Ben: “We’re a resilient group, and that was a proper performance”
Thu 24 December 2020, 09:50|
Tottenham Hotspur
Ben Davies didn’t need a second invitation to drive us into the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup at Stoke.
The Welsh international fizzed a 25-yarder in off the post to restore our advantage in a game that we’d dominated yet found ourselves level at 1-1 with 20 minutes remaining.
“I had a chance a couple of minutes before that and tried to play it into Harry,” he said. “The second time I just thought, ‘why not?’ and it was nice to see it nestle in the corner.”
In-form Championship side Stoke had equalised Gareth Bale’s deft header in the first half with their first attempt on goal, converted by Jordan Thompson on 53 minutes. That sparked their best spell, but we were back in control when Ben struck, and Harry Kane completed the job with the third on 80 minutes as we finished deserved 3-1 winners on a wet and windy night at the bet365 Stadium.
We now take on another Championship side, Brentford, at home in the semi-final (scheduled for week commencing 4 January, details TBC) with Manchester’s City and United meeting in the other tie.
“The conditions were really tough, it was a hard game, they set up to just limit us, really, and we didn’t create as much as we would have liked to in the game, but we felt in control and once we went ahead, we felt pretty solid,” added Ben.
“It was a sloppy goal for us to concede, and you can’t really take anything away from their game plan. When you know it’s 90 minutes and (if it’s level) you then get a penalty shoot-out, that’s probably how I would set up if I was them. At the end of the day, we’re delighted, we got over the line and we look forward the games coming up now.
“We’re a resilient group. We’ve really been fighting, but we didn’t want to go on a run where we hadn’t won for four games, so it was a proper performance - everyone worked hard and did their jobs."
