Tottenham's
Gareth Bale (right) scoring past Bolton goalkeeper Adam Bogdan to put
his team 2-1 ahead in their FA Cup game at White Hart Lane. Spurs won
3-1.
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Tottenham's Gareth Bale (right) scoring past Bolton
goalkeeper Adam Bogdan to put his team 2-1 ahead in their FA Cup game at
White Hart Lane. Spurs won 3-1.-- PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Bolton's Nigel Reo-Coker (left) and Tottenham's Jermain
Defoe wearing T-shirts in support of the recuperating Bolton midfielder
Fabrice Muamba before their match on Tuesday. --PHOTO: REUTERS
LONDON: Sentiment gave way to cold reality as
Tottenham Hotspur finally extinguished the resistance of Bolton
Wanderers on Tuesday to set up an FA Cup semi-final with London rivals
Chelsea.
The Trotters, fourth from the
bottom in the Premier League table and a mere point above the drop zone,
now return to their relegation battle.
A remarkable goalkeeping display from Adam
Bogdan had been upstaging thoughts of another Bolton player but
Tottenham struck three times inside the last 16 minutes to seal victory
in a tie that had been rearranged after Fabrice Muamba suffered a
cardiac arrest 10 days earlier.
Ryan Nelsen, an unlikely source
of a goal, with a header, and Gareth Bale, with a delicate chip, scored
within three minutes of each other, before Louis Saha made sure of
victory after Kevin Davies looked to have set up a nerve-wracking period
of stoppage time for the hosts.
It was no more than Spurs deserved on a night when Bogdan was determined not to be beaten.
He made eight excellent saves, including
denying Emmanuel Adebayor on four occasions, and also thrust out an
instinctive hand to prevent Scott Parker from opening the floodgates in
the first half.
'The 'keeper was fantastic,' Spurs manager
Harry Redknapp said. 'But I said at half-time the goals would come and
they did. It was so one-sided.'
After a run of three defeats and two draws,
this victory will help Tottenham's confidence in their bid for a
Champions League place, starting at home to Swansea City on Sunday.
'I've never felt the players got down and it was only a matter of time
before we would win, but we can't afford to slip up in the league going
for the top three,' Redknapp added.
He had been in daily contact with Owen Coyle,
his Bolton counterpart, about Muamba, who crumpled to the pitch 41
minutes into the original tie on March 17.
The midfield player, who is in a serious but stable condition, received text updates of the game at the London Chest Hospital.
And both managers said the fact Muamba had
shown such encouraging signs of progress had removed the sense of dread
hanging over the fixture.
'It has been a miracle to see the boy recover
as he has,' Redknapp said. 'When he left here that night, everybody
feared the worst.'
Coyle added: 'The reason we are here is because we knew Fabrice was getting better.'
In another quarter-final replay, Everton won
2-0 at Sunderland to set up a clash with Merseyside rivals Liverpool,
who have already won the League Cup this season.
Striker Nikica Jelavic was the key man for the
Toffees, scoring the opening goal before seeing his cross turned in for
an own goal by David Vaughan in the 57th minute.
Everton midfielder Tim Cahill, who has scored
only two goals this season, praised Jelavic, saying: 'He's changed a lot
of our games - he's someone who can hold the ball up and score goals.
It helps a hell of a lot.'
The semi-finals will be played at Wembley on the weekend of April 14-15.