Down Wembley Way - A look back at our previous League Cup successes

Ahead of Sunday’s Carabao Cup Final against Manchester City at Wembley Stadium, we take a look back at the four occasions we have gone on to triumph in the competition with victory at the national stadium.

27 February, 1971 – Spurs 2-0 Aston Villa

Our first-ever League Cup Final appearance came in our fourth participation in the competition and it was Third Division opponents Aston Villa that stood between us and a first piece of silverware since the 1967 FA Cup.

With Queens Park Rangers and Swindon Town of the Third Division having previously beaten First Division sides to win the League Cup, we knew this was going to be no Saturday afternoon stroll. Villa had a new tradition to maintain while we had no desire to join West Bromwich Albion and Arsenal on the roll of shame. That we did not was largely down to the professionalism of Steve Perryman and the opportunism of Martin Chivers.

For the first 20 minutes, we bossed the game, showing off our skills and looking for all the world as if we could score at will. Alan Gilzean twice put easy headers wide, Martin Peters shot tamely into John Dunn’s hands and Chivers shot wide when scoring seemed the easier option.

Villa seemed to realise that if they continued to let us dominate, a chance would eventually be taken, and so began to play more on the front foot, looking for that lucky break that sometimes falls your way in a final. The flash of genius almost came as the second half opened when Chico Hamilton seized on a mistake by Cyril Knowles, cut into the middle and with all the space he wanted unleashed a dipping drive from 25 yards.  Pat Jennings could do little as the ball clipped the bar and went over.

As the second half went on Villa dominated more and more, Spurs concentrating on defence and grateful the ever-reliable Phil Beal was playing at his best. Even he could do little though on the hour mark, as Peter Collins, Pat Jennings and Villa’s Andy Lochhead collided going for a high ball. Lochhead hooked the ball towards an empty net as Spurs appealed for a foul but a young Steve Perryman obeyed the old adage of playing to the whistle and appeared from nowhere to clear off the line.

At last we were stirred into action and with 17 minutes left we made the breakthrough. Jimmy Neighbour’s shot was easily parried by Dunn but he could not push it out of the danger area and it fell perfectly for Chivers to hammer home.

With the pressure off, we poured forward and three minutes later Chivers finished Villa off with a goal that showed just why he was regarded as England’s best centre-forward of the time. Alan Mullery was at the centre of the move, finding Chivers in a crowded goalmouth with a perfect chip. Chivers took the ball down, twisted past one opponent, side-stepped another and, as the whole Villa defence went one way, he fired a fierce low drive the other. It was a cracking goal, one that deserved to seal another cup final success.

3 March, 1973 - Spurs 1-0 Norwich City

Denied back-to-back League Cup Final appearances by Chelsea in the semi-finals of 1971/72, we still made a swift return to the competition’s showpiece occasion when we reached the 1973 final.

It was by no means a classic as opponents Norwich City – First Division newcomers who had lost their last five games and were struggling near the foot of the table – set out their stall not to be embarrassed on the big day.

The entertainment was going to have to come from Bill Nicholson’s side and we certainly did our best to oblige but found it difficult to raise our game as Norwich smothered our most creative player, Martin Peters, and matched the midfield engine room of John Pratt and Steve Perryman for endeavour.

There were few incidents of note in the goalless first half, Duncan Forbes hacked a Peters’ header off the line, Kevin Keelan made one good save from Alan Gilzean and Mike England went close with a couple of efforts. At the other end Norwich created only one opening, Forbes turning the chance wide.  Perhaps the most notable event came after 20 minutes when Pratt twisted his knee and had to be replaced by Ralph Coates.

The second half continued much the same as the first, Norwich defending deep, Spurs lacking the guile to break them down. Jimmy Pearce hooked one shot just wide, scraped the post from a Peters’ cross and clipped a Gilzean flick against a post but as time ran down a replay began to look almost certain. 

There were 72 minutes on the clock when the stalemate was at last broken. Chivers hurled a long throw into the Norwich box, Forbes rose to head the ball but merely deflected it across the box to Gilzean.  He could do no more than head it back towards Mike England on the edge of the box, but the big Welshman was unable to reach it.  Following up was Coates who slammed the ball along the ground, past Keelan and in at the foot of a post to make him the first substitute to score at Wembley.

Like two years earlier, once again we went for the second goal to kill off the game, Chivers hooking a shot fractionally wide and Cyril Knowles thumping one against an upright. Only in the last couple of minutes did Norwich make any real effort to equalise, Forbes heading inches wide.

The match was not one to live long in the memory, but the victory at least maintained Spurs’ record of never losing in a final. Nine finals, nine victories.

21 March, 1999 - Spurs 1-0 Leicester City

Apart from an FA Cup triumph in 1991, we didn’t enjoy too many successful cup campaigns in the late 80s and throughout the 90s, so another League Cup Final appearance just before the end of the millennium represented a great chance to add to our trophy haul.

Both Liverpool and Manchester United had been dispatched en route to a Wembley final against Leicester City, a solid, dependable team based on hard work and commitment and managed by Martin O’Neill.

We were favourites though, as George Graham could call on the likes of David Ginola, Darren Anderton and Les Ferdinand, players who could all change a game in instant, particularly Ginola with all his flair and creativity. But with Leicester’s ploy to stifle the Frenchman and prevent him turning on the style, it made for another fairly scrappy game with few incidents of note.

Ginola’s back-heel did give Anderton a glimpse of an opening but he was closed down before he could shoot. Apart from that the only time either goal came under threat in the first half was six minutes before the break when Leicester’s future Spur Kasey Keller had little difficulty dealing with a Steffen Iversen header. Early in the second half, Ginola’s primary marker Rob Ullathorne left him for a moment and fired in a firm shot. Ian Walker should have dealt with it comfortably, but he fumbled the ball and only just retrieved it before Tony Cottee pounced.

The game sparked into life for a few minutes just after the hour mark when Justin Edinburgh and Robbie Savage clashed off the ball after a challenge in midfield, the Leicester player going to ground holding his face. Edinburgh was sent off, Savage booked.

With a man less, our best chance of winning the trophy was to avoid the extra half hour and look for a goal in normal time. A great chance disappeared with 10 minutes to go when Iversen shot into the side netting. 

The match had just gone into injury time when Stephen Carr showed the courage to dribble past Cottee and Ian Marshall deep in his own area before finding Ferdinand who switched the ball to Iversen. The young Norwegian knocked the ball past Steve Walsh and powered down the wing after it.  He had too much pace for Walsh but from a wide angle could do no more than hit a cross-shot into the Leicester box. Keller blocked but the ball looped up into the air and Allan Nielsen, the only Spurs’ player with the energy to keep up with Iversen, plunged to head home.

24 February, 2008 - Spurs 2-1 Chelsea (AET)

Our first visit to the ‘new’ Wembley Stadium came in the League Cup Final of 2008 – the first time the showpiece occasion had been staged at the new national venue as well – and it was a London derby.

With local pride at stake, opponents Chelsea fielded a full-strength side despite the fact they were very much in the Premier League title race and were about to go all the way to the Champions League Final. At the time of the this final towards the end of February, they were effectively going for the quadruple. They finished the season empty-handed. While Avram Grant’s side were hot favourites, we were also able to field a strong XI, including new signings Alan Hutton and Jonathan Woodgate who were making only their third and fifth starts respectively. Crucially, Ledley King was passed fit to play, his first outing since the 5-1 thrashing of Arsenal in the semi-final, second leg a month earlier and the first time he had played alongside Woodgate. 

With less than 30 seconds on the clock Robbie Keane picked up a sloppy pass from Juliano Belletti, advanced a few yards and might have scored one of the fastest goals in cup final history had the inside of John Terry’s thigh not deflected Keane’s shot wide. We continued to take the game to Chelsea, Pascal Chimbonda heading just over, Dimitar Berbatov glancing just wide, but it was the Blues who took an undeserved lead on 37 minutes when Didier Drogba rifled home a 25-yard free-kick.

An hour into the game, Juande Ramos decided to make changes in search of the equaliser. Tom Huddlestone was put on in place of Chimbonda with Steed Malbranque dropping to full-back and Aaron Lennon switched to the right. 

The turning point came midway through the second period when Lennon crossed to the far post where the ball dropped to Huddlestone. As he sought to get it under control Wayne Bridge twice used his hand to try to pat it away. Referee Mark Halsey seemed to have missed the incident but his linesman had not and the penalty was awarded. Berbatov was coolness itself as he rolled the ball past Petr Cech and it was game on.

With 10 minutes remaining Zokora played a quick one-two with Keane and suddenly found himself with a run from the halfway line at goal. It was the perfect opening but as Zokora advanced Cech stood his ground.  Zokora’s shot was on target but it struck the goalkeeper in the face and the midfielder put the rebound wide.

Neither side could find the winner and so it was into extra time when the decisive moment occurred, just three minutes in. Jermaine Jenas played a free-kick into the penalty box, Woodgate escaped the attentions of Drogba and Terry to beat Cech to the ball. His header hit Cech’s fist, the ball rebounded into Woodgate’s face and then bounced into the net.

The rest of extra time was almost exclusively a case of Chelsea bombarding Paul Robinson’s goal but King and Woodgate, reinforced by substitute Younes Kaboul, were superb in repelling almost every assault. In the final seconds Salomon Kalou wriggled through. His shot hit Robinson’s post, but only because the whistle had gone and our players and supporters had already begun their celebrations.