This season’s FA Cup is set to be won by a team from London or Liverpool — after Tottenham Hotspur and Everton triumphed on Tuesday to set up capital and Merseyside semi-final derbies at Wembley next month.
Spurs beat Bolton Wanderers 3-1 in an FA Cup quarter-final, after the original tie was abandoned following the collapse of Bolton’s Fabrice Muamba.
They are now scheduled to face fellow London club Chelsea in the last four.
Photo: AFP
Meanwhile, in a quarter-final replay, Everton won 2-0 away to Sunderland to set up a semi-final match against local rivals Liverpool, who have already won the League Cup at Wembley this season.
At White Hart Lane, goals late on from New Zealand’s Ryan Nelsen and Gareth Bale appeared to have settled Spurs’ nerves, before Bolton striker Kevin Davies pulled one back for the visitors in the 90th minute.
However, Louis Saha sealed Tottenham’s win with the last kick of the match in stoppage-time.
Bolton goalkeeper Adam Bogdan made several excellent saves for the visitors before Tottenham’s pressure was rewarded when, 16 minutes from time, central defender Nelsen headed in from a corner.
Three minutes later, with Bolton chasing the game, Wales winger Bale finished off a counter-attack initiated by speedy striker Jermain Defoe.
The original tie, at White Hart Lane on March 17, was abandoned shortly before half-time after Bolton midfielder Muamba collapsed with a cardiac arrest in an incident that sparked worldwide concern.
“I think there was obviously an important football match to play in the end,” Bolton manager Owen Coyel said.
“The events of 10 days ago were fresh and it was an opportunity for everybody to say: ‘Thanks for the support.’ Our lads were brave, Bogdan was outstanding. At 2-0 it would have been easy to feel sorry, but we kept going. It was a terrific advert for football. When the draw was made I thought we were paired with the best team in football and we will see if that proves to be true,” he said.
Bale, bidding to be a member of the first Tottenham team to win the FA Cup since 1991, said: “We’ve had a long, hard season, we’ve shown how we want to get off the bad run and keep improving.”
“Everybody wants to win the FA Cup. We have got a great chance, we’ve got tough opponents against Chelsea, but we will give it our best shot to win,” he added.
In the north-east, after a 1-1 draw at Goodison Park, Everton striker Nikica Jelavic was the key man as the Toffees booked a dream semi-final against local rivals Liverpool with a 2-0 win away to Sunderland.
The Croatia international scored the opening goal in Tuesday’s quarter-final replay at the Stadium of Light, before seeing his cross turned in for an own-goal by Sunderland’s David Vaughan in the 57th minute after the original tie had ended all square at 1-1.
Jelavic himself could have made the final score much more emphatic, but spurned several chances in a match Everton dominated with Marouane Fellaini, Leon Osman and Magaye Gueye outstanding as they set up a chance to gain revenge for their derby defeat.
Australia ace Tim Cahill had Everton’s first chance, his eighth-minute header saved by Sunderland goalkeeper Simon Mignolet.
The Belgium international was tested again before Jelavic beat him after sweeping in Gueye’s cross. Sunderland’s Sebastian Larsson curled a 35th-minute free-kick a meter wide, but Everton ’keeper Tim Howard remained largely untroubled.
It was 2-0 12 minutes after the re-start when Fellaini broke free and squared for Jelavic, whose ball back across goal was turned in by the unlucky Vaughan, an attempted clearance hitting his left foot and rolling into the net.
Stephane Sessegnon hit the angle of bar and post from Larsson’s corner on the hour, but Jelavic shot wide with only Mignolet to beat seconds later.
Jelavic then saw a 66th minute shot palmed away by Mignolet and Gueye shot just over, but Sunderland couldn’t make Everton pay for their missed chances.
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