Tottenham have tonight progressed to the fourth round of the Carling Cup after seeing off a late rally from the hosts Newcastle. Goals from Roman Pavlyuchenko and Jamie O'Hara helped ease the pressure on manager Juande Ramos after a shocking start to the new Premier League season.
Michael Owen gave the Magpies some hope late-on however it wasn't enough and the holders go on to the next round. The first-half was simply appauling. Both sides look extremely poor and it was no surprise to see the second-half improve because quite frankly it couldn't of been any worse than the first 45 minutes.
Spurs showed signs of the kind of form that saw them win the competition last season, however they still have a long way to go if they want to winning it this season. This finally provides some respite for Ramos and the rest of the Spurs staff because they have come if for some strong criticism in recent days. The misery continues for Newcastle.
One other thing to note from tonight's game was the pathetic attendance at the ground. As most of us will know, St James' is one of the biggest stadium's in the country holding 52,000 at capacity. Tonight saw just under 20,000 turn up for the game, clearly a knock-on affect from the Kevin Keegan saga.
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