Tottenham 3 Watford 1:Goals in one are even better remembered than holes in one. In the 1967 FA Charity Shield the Tottenham goalkeeper Pat Jennings scored with a huge clearance which bounced over the head of Manchester United's Alex Stepney. At the time Spurs were the FA Cup holders and United league champions, so maybe Paul Robinson's giant freak of a goal on Saturday was a harbinger of how things will work out this time.
After all Ben Foster, the Watford goalkeeper, is on loan from Manchester United so how can the runes be wrong? Not that Robinson will be trying to beat Petr Cech by the best part of a pitch's length when Tottenham meet Chelsea in tonight's FA Cup quarter-final replay at White Hart Lane - any more than he had thought of scoring their second goal with a free-kick taken from just outside his own penalty area.
The Spurs goalkeeper merely wanted to hoof the ball high up the pitch towards Mido. It would have been just another overhit kick, easily dealt with by Danny Shittu, had Foster not told his centre-back to leave it. Shittu obliged whereupon Foster found himself beaten by the ball's bounce and sheepishly retrieving it from the back of the net.
As if that was not enough the goal had the ironic subtext of being scored by England's first-choice goalkeeper at the expense of his understudy. Foster, moreover, has been touted to take over from Robinson in the national team following the Spurs' man's howler in the European Championship qualifier against Croatia, when he took his eye off the ball as he went to clear Gary Neville's pass back, missed it completely when it hit a divot and conceded the goal which completed the 2-0 defeat.
The two goalkeepers will shortly meet up again when Steve McClaren's squad begin preparations for Saturday's qualifier in Israel. "I will try not to mention it," said Robinson with just the faintest hint of Schadenfreude. "I know what it's like and it's not nice. It was a bit of a freak. If it goes wide I would have probably got a telling-off from the strikers."
Tottenham spent much of the first half even more committed to the long ball than their willing but limited opponents before Jenas brought the game back to earth and started passing to feet. That said, the midfielder's ability in the air produced the first goal four minutes before half-time, Jenas soaring above Adrian Mariappa and Gareth Williams at the far post to beat Foster with a sharp downward header.
Tottenham's last goal, five minutes from the end, was their best, Ghaly starting and finishing a smart passing movement which brought in Paul Stalteri, Defoe and Lennon. Darius Henderson then tapped one in for Watford from Tommy Smith's low centre.
