Tomorrow will be the eleventh FA Cup quarter final of my Tottenham supporting life, so I'm going to take a quick look back at the previous 10, going back over a quarter of a century.
1990-91
Back on March 10th 1991 we hosted second division Notts County at the Lane. A Gascoigne goal and an own goal helped up to a 2-1 victory.
Lineup
Thorstvedt, van den Hauwe, Thomas, Mabbutt, Edinburgh, Sedgley, Nayim, Gascoigne, Allen, Stewart, Lineker
Subs; Samways, Walsh
Following this victory, we went on to beat the old enemy Arsenal 3-1 at Wembley (with Gazza's famous "he is you know" free kick past a despairing Seaman), before defeating Clough's Nottingham Forest 2-1 in a famous victory marred by Gascoigne's tackle on Gary Charles.
1992-93
Two years later, we went to Maine Road to take on Manchester City, running out 4-2 victors thanks to a Nayim hat trick and a Steve Sedgley goal.
Lineup
Thorstvedt, Austin, Ruddock, Mabbutt, Edinburgh, Sedgley, Nayim, Samways Anderton, Allen, Sheringham
Subs; Turner
Arsenal defeated us 1-0 in the semi final; a match filled with narrow misses and denied penalties in what felt an unjust defeat.
1994-95
In the '94/95 season Teddy Sheringham had fired a goal in every round on the way to the quarters (but Rosenthal's hat-trick in the replay v Southampton stole the headlines in the run). Sheringham and Klinsmann combined with the goals to take us past Liverpool.
Lineup
Walker, Austin, Calderwood, Mabbutt, Edinburgh, Howells, Anderton, Barmby, Rosenthal, Klinsmann, Sheringham
Subs;
A heavy 4-1 defeat met us in the semi final, bringing a sad end to a run that had us feeling our name was on the cup.
1998-99
David Ginola's mazy run and strike was enough to take us past Barnsley in 1999.
Lineup
Walker, Carr, Campbell, Vega, Taricco, Sherwood, Freund, Anderton, Ginola, Armstrong, Ferdinand
Subs; Sinton, Iversen
Newcastle got the better of us in the semi final; sending us home as 2-0 losers.
2000-01
A Rebrov brace and a goal from the ginger Pele; Gary Doherty gave us a 3-2 victory over West Ham at Upton Park
Lineup
Sullivan, Doherty, Perry, Campbell, King, Young, Freund, Clemence, Ferdinand, Iversen, Rebrov
Subs; Korsten
Another semi final defeat at the hands of Arsenal followed, ending our hopes of a cup in a year ending in a '1'
2001-02
The following year, goals from two future Spurs (Gallas and a Gudjohnsen brace) along with a rare Le Saux goal embarrased us at the Lane v Chelsea
Lineup
Sullivan, King, Gardner, Richards, Ziege, Sherwood, Poyet, Anderton, Davies, Ferdinand, Sheringham
Subs; Rebrov, Taricco
2004-05
An early Patrick Kluivert goal at St James' Park was enough to take Newcastle through to Wembley in our 2005 quarter final
Lineup
Robinson, Pamarot, Naybet, King, Atouba, Brown, Carrick, Davies, Ziegler, Defoe, Kanoute
Subs; Keane, Marney, Gardner
2006-07
In 2007, we were 3-1 up at Stamford Bridge thanks to goals from Berbatov, an Essien o.g. and Ghaly, before Lampard and finally Kalou in the last five minutes earned Chelsea a replay. Eight days later at White Hart Lane (playing our fourth game in nine days) we fell 2-1, with Keane's penalty being little more than consolation as it failed to kick start a recovery following goals from Shevchenko and Wright-Phillips
Lineup (first game)
Cerny, Stalteri, Dawson, Rocha, Lee, Tainio, Zokora, Lennon, Ghaly, Berbatov, Defoe
Subs; Mido, Malbranque, Gardner
Lineup (replay)
Robinson, Chimbonda, Dawson, Rocha, Lee, Zokora, Jenas, Malbranque, Lennon, Berbatov, Keane
Subs; Defoe, Stalteri
2009-10
We took part in another replay three years later, this time running out as victors 3-1 following a goalless first match at Craven Cottage. Bentley, Pavlyuchenko and Gudjohnsen striking back to overturn former Spur' Bobby Zamora's opener.
Lineup (first game)
Gomes, Corluka, Dawson, Bassong, Assou-Ekotto, Palacios, Modric, Kranjcar, Bale, Pavlyuchenko, Crouch
Subs; Defoe
Lineup (replay)
Gomes, Corluka, Dawson, Bassong, Assou-Ekotto, Palacios, Modric, Kranjcar, Bale, Gudjohnsen, Crouch
Subs; Bentley, Huddlestone, Pavlyuchenko
A shock semi-final defeat to Portsmouth followed, losing 2-0 with both Pompey goals coming in extra time.
2011-12
Our most recent quarter-final was five years ago, and featured a rescheduled match at the Lane, after the first match was abandoned following the collapse of Bolton's Fabrice Muamba. We came through 3-1 winners with goals from January window signings Ryan Nelsen and Louis Saha either side of a Gareth Bale goal
Lineup
Cudicini, Walker, King, Nelsen, Assou-Ekotto, Parker, Livermore, Modric, van der Vaart, Bale, Adebayor
Subs; Defoe, Saha, Rose
Our last FA Cup semi final appearance ended in heavy defeat (5-1) at the hands of Chelsea.
So, of our last 10 quarter finals, we've won 7, but only managed to win 1 of the subsequent semi-finals, and that was 26 years ago. It's been too long, and as Arsenal have already got their name in the draw for the semi finals, maybe we'll see scenes reminiscent of these in a semi-final, before finally rediscovering the glory of lifting a big f'ck off shiny trophy.
Gazza's free kick is on it's way
Delight at the end of 90 mins
The lads celebrate the FA Cup win in 1991
