Holders Tottenham beat Liverpool 4-2 to reach the
Carling Cup quarter-finals as Harry Redknapp's dream start
continued at White Hart Lane.
Spurs, who beat the Reds just 11 days ago in the Premier League,
were well worth their victory on the night, and despite a
much-changed line-up, two goals apiece from Roman Pavlyuchenko and
Fraizer Campbell sealed their passage through to the last
eight.
Liverpool, who found themselves 3-0 down at the break and 4-1
down just after the hour, were second best throughout and headed
goals from Damien Plessis and Sami Hyypia gave the scoreline a
rather flattering look.
Spurs made a bright start with Aaron Lennon's teasing cross
picking out Pavlyuchenko, but the Russian couldn't steer his header
on target.
The hosts continued to attack and Gareth Bale's cross was
superbly controlled by Lennon but his goal-bound shot was
brilliantly blocked by Daniel Agger.
But Spurs' first-half dominance paid off after 38 minutes when
Campbell outpaced Hyypia down the left flank and drilled over a
cross which Pavlyuchenko blasted home first time through Diego
Cavalieri's legs.
After 42 minutes it was 2-0 when Jamie O'Hara's deep cross was
taken on the chest by Campbell and with both Agger and Cavalieri
out of the equation, the on-loan frontman was left with the simple
task of tapping into an empty net.
But Spurs weren't finished there and Liverpool conceded their
third goal in six minutes when Lennon whipped over a cross and
Campbell's flying header arrowed into the corner of the net.
Liverpool came out of the traps quickly at the start of the
second half and got themselves a lifeline on 49 minutes when
Plessis headed into an unguarded net from close range after
Heurelho Gomes flapped at a cross.
But any hopes of an Istanbul-style comeback were extinguished
three minutes later when Didier Zokora's powerful run and shot fell
kindly for Pavlyuchenko and the Russian swept home his second of
the night and fifth of the season.
Liverpool netted another though after 63 minutes when Hyypia
turned in a left-wing corner after Gomes again failed to get near a
dead-ball delivery into the Spurs box.
Spurs then lost Gomes after he collided heavily with Philipp
Degen, the Brazilian replaced by Spanish veteran Cesar who came on
for his Spurs debut.
Both sides did their best to add even more goals to the
evening's tally, but 4-2 is how it stayed and it is Tottenham who
go through into Saturday's quarter-final draw.
