Pedro Porro’s 25-yard strike sealed Burnley’s FA Cup elimination with a close 1-0 loss at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Friday night.
Before Ange Postecoglou saw full-back Porro make the breakthrough with an incredible strike in the 78th minute, a replay at Turf Moor looked likely.
After a strong performance, Clarets manager Vincent Kompany may see some bright spots, and his team will now be entirely focused on surviving in the Premier League.
The visitors began brightly in north London, and Spurs had already defeated Burnley 5-2 this season. However, they were without their hat-trick hero from that lovely September day, as Son Heung-min was overseas for the Asian Cup.
Wilson Odobert put Tottenham custodian Guglielmo Vicario to the test with a long-range effort after Anass Zaroury had fired over early on.
With just two changes made for this third-round match, Postecoglou’s team—possibly his strongest one—began to perform well right away.
After a deft play, Richarlison scuffed wide, but Brennan Johnson’s curler compelled Arijanet Muric to react.
Soon after, as the clock reached 16 minutes, the entire stadium erupted in cheers in remembrance of Tottenham supporter Harry Pitman, who lost his life on New Year’s Eve.
After a heartfelt minute of ovation, Rodrigo Bentancur’s tackle on Zaroury was later reviewed by VAR, but Spurs’ interim captain escaped punishment.
With twenty-seven minutes played, Kompany’s team had their greatest opportunity when Zeki Amdouni was placed through on goal by Zaroury’s deft pass. Although the offside flag was raised, the shot still went past.
Before halftime, Johnson did miss a goal after a Porro centre, but N17’s dull opening 45 minutes finished in a goalless draw.
With Dejan Kulusevski driving over and Lo Celso and Johnson testing Muric, Tottenham’s early substitutions for the second half initially had the expected effect.
The home crowd sent out a few groans when Kulusevski passed the ball instead of taking a chance from a favourable position, but Spurs were still attempting to walk the ball in.
After Lo Celso hobbled off, Charlie Taylor went down with a shoulder injury for Burnley, forcing Kompany to make three substitutions, including the introduction of Nathan Redmond.
Brendan Again had forced Muric into action once more with a volley into the ground, and the hosts’ feeble attempts to get a penalty were dismissed when the attacker went down following a little touch from Josh Brownhill.
A rerun at the turf As the seconds passed, Moor appeared to be looming large, but Porro had other intentions.
Shortly after Richarlison was unable to capitalise on Kulusevski’s cross, Porro wrested the ball from Ameen Al-Dakhil and fired a 25-yard shot that dipped and went into the corner.
In the 86th minute, Burnley’s custodian nearly set up a late equaliser from a corner, but Amdouni volleyed over. Tottenham substitute Ryan Sessegnon came close to ending the game, but Muric saved.
Ange Postecoglou and his team, at the end, progressed into the next round.
