We started with a loss in 1898, wine the next game the following year then went winless in the next eleven games, before only losing one of the following eleven. There were nine draws in those first 24 games though including FOUR nil nil draws in the space of 11 months
But this is a cup game so lets look at the times we've played Spurs in various cups.
We've met them 19 times in various cup competitions, 11 in the FA Cup & 8 times in the League Cup. Bizarrely enough, we've only met them once in the FA Cup in the last nine meetings. That was at home in 2001 when a team including Carrick, J Cole, Lampard Jnr, Di Canio & Kanoute lost 3-2 in the Quarter Finals.
Our meetings in the League Cup are....
14/9/1966 - 1-0 win in the 1st Round. Hurst goal. We lost to WBA in the Semis.
12/11/1975 & 24/11/1975 - 0-0 then 0-2.
02/12/1980 - 1-0 win. 5th round. David Cross scored. Incredibly we competed in 18 Cup games that season AND won promotion to the 1st Division. With 17 players. Bonds, Brooking, Cross, Devonshire, Goddard, Lampard, Martin, Parkes, Pike & Stewart all played more than 50 games with five of them playing more than 60
27/1/1987 & 02/02/1987 - a 1-1 draw & a 5-0 loss.
29/10/2003 - A 1-0 loss.
18/12/2013 - 2-1 win. Trailing to an Adebayor 67th minute goal, we pull out a win with goals in the 80th & 85th minute by Jarvis & Maiga.
So far in the League Cup we've played Adrian in goal each time & I expect that to continue. We could also see Byram, Ogbonna, Haksakbanovic, Rice, Fernandes & possibly Martinez although Bilic may want to put out a full stregth team as Spurs play Liverpool then Man Utd either side of us (& then Real Madrid at Wembley) so they might be giving some of their lesser players a chance.
Either way I expect a tight game with a full evening turnout at the National Stadium.
