Leeds United v Tottenham Hotspur: Boss Villas-Boas in tribute to ‘competitive’ Whites
Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas said Leeds United deserved credit for the competitive nature of their performance after his side crashed out of the FA Cup at Elland Road.
Luke Varney ran clear to give United an early lead as Tottenham failed to convert a series of first-half chances.
Ross McCormack made it 2-0 after more poor defending allowed him to turn inside Steve Caulker and slam home. Clint Dempsey headed home to give Spurs hope and the visitors knew their luck was out whenLee Peltier got back superbly to deny substitute John Obika with a last-ditch challenge late on.
“It was difficult,” said Villas-Boas, who made five changes to his side. “At 2-0 Leeds got further inspiration and we wanted to get back quickly.
“We had a good 15 minutes before the goal when we had some good chances, and I think it was important to score early. It was difficult as we were always chasing the game and this is a difficult place to play, and we couldn’t play our football as well as we could have.
“We wanted to go through in the competition, but we were knocked out by a Leeds team who were extremely competitive today, and you have to give credit to them.”
Tottenham were without Emmanuel Adebayor, who was on duty for Togo in the African Nations Cup, while Villas-Boas confirmed absent striker Jermain Defoe had injured himself in training.
But the Spurs boss refused to comment on whether he would be drafting in any forward cover in the final week of the transfer window, and did not accept his side would benefit from yesterday’s defeat in terms of their bid for Champions League qualification.