There was a problem before kick-off. It was the kind of problem that anybody who has played Sunday league football in this country at any level, on a cold day on a bobbly pitch, perhaps, when players may be hungover from the night before, perhaps, when no one could find the keys to the changing rooms, perhaps, would have recognised.
The problem was with the net. There was a knot that had come loose and when the linesman spotted it, the kick-off was delayed. ‘That was when I got the shout from Haydn,’ Beck-Ray Enoru said afterwards of his centre-half teammate. ‘He told me to come and jump on his back.’
And so Enoru climbed on the back of Haydn Hollis in front of the 4,000 supporters crammed into the ramshackle stadium, millions watching on television and a bemused team of Spurs internationals jogging up and down to try to keep warm, and dangled off the crossbar and fixed the knot and then jumped down and ran to the half way line.
Sixty seconds later, Enoru, who works as a salesman at the Zara store in Leicester and was probably the best player on the pitch, had drifted past Radu Dragusin, skinned Pedro Porro and brought a fine save out of new Spurs goalkeeping hero Antonin Kinsky.
And everybody remembered all over again just why it is that they love the FA Cup so much and why any more of the step-by-step betrayals of it by the governing body and the Premier League should be resisted at all costs.
Tamworth, who sit 96 places below Tottenham in England’s football pyramid and languish in 16th in the fifth tier National League, were the better team in the first half and much of the second half and deserved to take the tie into extra time.
Tottenham’s tricky trip to Tamworth reminded us of everything beautiful about the FA Cup
Ninety-six places separated the two sides but Tamworth took Spurs all the way to extra time
Tottenham’s substitutions were designed to deal damage – and mocked by Tamworth’s fans – but proved effectual in the end
In previous years, that would have earned them a replay at the palace that is the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and a windfall of close to £1m, a transformative sum for a club that is one of only a few teams to remain part-time in the National League. The FA ruined that prospect when it scrapped replays.
But that’s enough carping. Sunday afternoon at the Lamb Ground was not an occasion for carping. It was an occasion that celebrated the wealth of English football. Not the financial riches of the top flight but the sheer depth of our national sport and the intensity of support for clubs far removed from the Premier League.
Tamworth, whose manager, Andy Peaks, gave up his job as a learning support teacher at a local college last week because the money from the FA Cup run allowed the club to take him on full-time, gave it everything and Spurs found it difficult to cope with their threat.
Not just the long throws of midfielder Tom Tonks but the pace and the trickery of Enoru and the muscularity of centre forward Dan Creaney, who, in old language of the game, was adept at letting Spurs defenders know he was there.
The Tamworth fans played their part, too. The noisiest of the home crowd, crammed into The Shed behind the dug-outs, serenaded Ange Postecoglou with chants of ‘You’re getting sacked in the morning’ pretty much from the kick-off and hammered on the blue corrugated iron that shielded them from the bitter wind with all their might to create a terrible din.
Spurs, who beat league leaders Liverpool in a Carabao Cup semi-final first leg last week, struggled to make any impression on the part-timers until James Maddison forced a decent save out of Jas Singh after half an hour.
The city slickers did not wont for effort but they were utterly lacking in inspiration. After the break, Timo Werner proved he could miss one-on-ones against National League teams, too. Singh saved from him with an outstretched leg when the Germany forward should have scored.
Werner had a header cleared off the line, too, after fine work by Mikey Moore down the left but in the last minute of six added on at the end of the second half, a slip by Dominic Solanke presented the ball to Jordan Cullinane-Liburd.
Spurs distinguished themselves in their humility and the time they had for the non-league side
We must protect the FA Cup at all costs because it can uplift clubs and a community
Tamworth boss Andy Peaks left his job as a learning support teacher ahead of this because the money generated from their FA Cup run gave them the funds to appoint him full-time
Cullinane-Liburd made space for himself beautifully by dragging the ball under his foot and fooling a defender but with glory beckoning, his goalbound shot was blocked by Yves Bissouma. Tamworth were that close to one of the great shocks in FA Cup history. ‘Can we play you every week?’ the Tamworth fans sang.
But their threat receded in extra time. Postecoglou decided to bring on his best players to stave off the looming embarrassment of a third round giant-killing, a development which did not escape the Tamworth faithful.
‘How s*** must you be?’ the Shed Choir sang. ‘We’re only part time.’ Substitutes Son Heung-min and Dejan Kulusevski made an immediate difference, though, and their quality shone through.
The breakthrough came 11 minutes into the first half of extra time when Maddison orchestrated a clever free-kick that caught the home side out. He slid a pass to Brennan Johnson and when his cross-shot seemed destined to be tapped in by Solanke, Nathan Tshikuna inadvertently diverted it past Singh.
Kulusevski added a fine second with a low left-foot cross-shot after a typically clever pass by Son and Johson wrapped things up two minutes from the end with a crisp, curling snap-shot. To the credit of the Spurs players, there were no wild celebrations when they scored. They had no desire to taunt their non-league rivals.
Spurs had not played well. They were distinctly ordinary in normal time. They were lucky, in fact, to escape with a draw. But they deserve some credit, too, partly because they did not lose their nerve or their minds and ground out a win that puts them in the next round.
And partly because they conducted themselves with class all afternoon. They had walked through the crowd to get to their changing room before kick-off and Postecoglou joked and laughed with the home fans, looking very much as if he was relishing the test facing his players.
And when the game was over, the Spurs players distinguished themselves with the time they gave to the home supporters. Archie Gray, a young man who is increasingly impressive on and off the pitch, took off both boots and handed them to young Tamworth fans and Maddison and Kulusevski posed for pictures and signed shirts as they wandered back to their team coach in the gloaming.
Daniel Levy was sat in a makeshift hospitality area at the Lamb Ground
Spurs play Arsenal at The Emirates in the North London derby on Wednesday. Tamworth play Boldmere St Michael’s in the Birmingham Senior Cup the same night before a home match Boston United in a relegation clash on Saturday.
There is no word yet on whether Spurs chairman Daniel Levy enjoyed his pie and chips in the makeshift Tamworth hospitality area at the back of the 518-seat main stand but in their hospitality to visitors as well as their performance on the pitch, Tamworth rose to the occasion.
The two teams are returning to their separate worlds but for one afternoon at the Lamb Ground, the FA Cup brought them together in a glorious collision.
