Match Report: Pearce Finally Tastes Forest Defeat as Mason Turns Cup Tie Around for Spurs
A spirited and much-changed Nottingham Forest team gave a good account of themselves at White Hart Lane in the Capital One Cup, but did not quite have enough to hold on to a second half lead as Spurs came back to progress to the fourth round of the competition.
As Forest remembered their former manager Brian Clough, who passed away 10 years ago this month, new boss Stuart Pearce made 9 changes to his side ahead of the trip to Spurs. Although that did in a sense show how little he values this competition, it rather more highlighted how seriously he was taking his side's attempts to win promotion, in the hope that they will be playing this level of opposition on a weekly basis next season.
After the game, Pearce pointed to the youth he fielded here and a promising future for the club. "There were a lot of players out there tonight who haven't played in a game of that magnitude before, so it's a good place to be for the club". It was a risk by Pearce to play such an inexperienced team here, but one for which he was very nearly gratified, with 19-year-old Jorge Grant, making his first appearance for the club, sending the Midlands club into the lead on 61 minutes.
Forest had threatened before that, most notably when another youngster, 20-year-old Ben Osborn, scythed through the Spurs defence before rattling the debuting Michel Vorm's crossbar early on, but the Championship leaders offered little in attack after having gone ahead. From that moment onwards, in fact, they failed to have another chance as a couple of youngsters on the home side turned the game on its head.
Mauricio Pochettino replaced Benjamin Stambouli and Paulinho with Harry Kane and the widely unheard of Ryan Mason, and Tottenham suddenly looked reinvigorated. When the clock passed the 71 minute mark, Spurs were yet to have a shot on target on the night, and had only had one attempt test the opposition goalkeeper in their last 292 minutes of action.
Kane swiftly rose to bring a save out of Dorus de Vries, and moments after, Mason struck from 20 yards to register his first ever Tottenham goal and level the tie. Mason was a positive influence on a previously stagnant and uninspiring Tottenham central midfield, making 5 key passes in his 25 minutes on the pitch. No other player made more than 3 in the full 90 minutes. Mason's resultant 8.22 rating was the second only to Federico Fazio (8.33).
Moments later, Mason found Andros Townsend who released a typically optimistic long range drive which Roberto Soldado turned into the net with a striker's instinct that has often seemed to be lacking during his time in London. Another substitute in Erik Lamela later released Kane to net a third, before he later struck De Vries' post with a drive from the edge of the box.
Pochettino had looked markedly less animated here than he did in Sunday's Premier League loss to West Brom, but after the game he insisted that he would be taking the competition seriously. It seemed after this showing that his less experienced players might actually give him a better chance of success.
What did you make of Ryan Mason's performance last night? Let us know in the comments below
