Tottenham Tottenham needed three goals in the final 16 minutes to avoid an FA Cup upset against Morecambe as they came from behind to win 3-1 on an afternoon when record signing Tanguy Ndombele was booed off by the home crowd.
Anthony O’Connor’s first-half goal had the League One side – 59 places below their hosts on the football ladder – dreaming of the most famous result in their history, but a late blitz spared Spurs’ blushes.
After Ndombele, who asked to leave the club last summer, angered the home fans by taking an age to leave the field when being substituted – surely a terminal act in the Frenchman’s underwhelming stay in north London – quickfire goals from Harry Winks, Lucas Moura and Harry Kane sent Antonio Conte’s side through to round four.
Sunday's FA Cup results
But Conte will have had his assertions that the majority of his squad are not good enough to compete for the major honours confirmed in a sub-standard display and Ndombele might not be the only one considered to be at the end of the road.
Morecambe, whose manager Stephen Robinson was absent due to a positive coronavirus test, put up a spirited display and can take heart in how their Premier League hosts struggled to get past them.
Lanzini and Bowen fire West Ham past Leeds
Manuel Lanzini and Jarrod Bowen piled more FA Cup misery on Leeds as West Ham marched into the fourth round.
Lanzini’s first-half goal and Bowen’s late strike secured a 2-0 win for David Moyes’ side and condemned Leeds to a ninth third-round defeat in the last 12 seasons.
It is now five years since the Whites have won an FA Cup match, and they rarely looked like bucking that sorry trend in a one-sided London Stadium encounter.
Teenage Gordon makes Liverpool history
Seventeen-year-old Kaide Gordon became Liverpool’s youngest FA Cup goalscorer to set Jurgen Klopp’s side on the way to a comfortable 4-1 third-round victory at home to Shrewsbury.
The League One visitors had threatened an upset when, having had just 15 per cent possession, they took a 27th-minute lead through Daniel Udoh.
However, Gordon, who at 17 years and 96 days also became the club’s second-youngest all-time scorer after Ben Woodburn, soon restored order.
Fabinho’s penalty put them in front just before half-time and substitute Roberto Firmino’s backheel and another added-time Fabinho strike sealed their progress.
But it was the quality of Gordon’s goal at the Kop end which stood out as the youngster, an initial £1m signing from Derby a year ago, scored on only his second appearance.