Tottenham 0-1 Manchester City: Nathan Ake scores late winner to send FA Cup holders through to the fifth round as Spurs’ chances of lifting silverware this season are dealt a big blow

At halftime they came out one by one. The Boys of ’81, that’s what they called them on the big screen. First Paul Miller, then Graham Roberts and then arm-in-arm Glenn Hoddle and Osvaldo Ardiles, honored the members of Spurs who defeated Manchester City in the 100th FA Cup final after the first Wembley replay.

The familiar choruses, for fans of a certain age, of a song released at the time called Ossie’s Dream rang out around the beautiful new Spurs stadium. ‘Ossie is going to Wembley,’ it said, ‘his knees are shaking.’ And the four men, older and grayer now, looked at the scoreboard and smiled.

Spurs have obviously won things since then. Their last trophy was the 2008 League Cup. But as their supporters listened to Hoddle’s memories, they dreamed of winning this famous old competition again and celebrating a first season under Ange Postecoglou that has brought so much promise.

They had gone into this FA Cup fourth round tie hoping that a different kind of history could help them. For all their recent dominance in the English game, City had never won at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. They had also never won a point. And they had never scored a goal.

Hoddle’s former faith healer, Eileen Drewery, claimed to have built a force field around the England goal at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome to prevent Italy from scoring against England before a World Cup qualifier in 1997, i.e. for all but the last few heartbreaking minutes. draw, Spurs fans felt as if their thoughts were also with the former England manager.

Tottenham’s silverware chances suffered a huge blow as they crashed out of the FA Cup

Pep Guardiola celebrated full-time with his players as the FA Cup holders progressed to the fifth round

The spell held almost to the end. Try as they might, no matter how close they came, even as they dominated, City could not get past the Spurs backline and then, two minutes from time, substitute Kevin de Bruyne lashed in a corner, Guglielmo Vicario made his strike and Nathan Aké crossed the ball in for the winner.

Pep Guardiola had a strong team, but not City’s strongest. De Bruyne, still returning from injury, was back on the bench, alongside Ederson, John Stones and Jeremy Doku. But City have so much depth in depth that it’s hard to know who their best team is. To say this was a weakened team would have been slander.

It was certainly reduced by the absence of Erling Haaland, but he has been out for nine games with a foot injury and City has hardly been affected. In any case, his absence was matched by the absence of Spurs captain Heung-min Son, who is away with South Korea at the Asia Cup.

Perhaps the biggest news for both sides ahead of kick-off was the return of James Maddison to the Spurs bench for the first time since suffering ankle ligament damage in Spurs’ apocalyptic 4-1 defeat to Chelsea on November 6 .

Spurs were flying high and playing with the verve and confidence of title challengers when Maddison was injured. The former Leicester midfielder has starred in much of their best play. They haven’t been quite the same since he was sent to the treatment table.

Spurs had a lucky escape within the first five minutes. Destiny Udogie slipped as he tried to close down Kyle Walker on City’s right, Walker scored from a cross and Phil Foden poked the ball towards goal. Vicario could only parry it and Oscar Bobb rammed it over the line, but it had strayed marginally offside.

City did not give Spurs a chance to catch their breath in that initial phase. The home team could not hold the ball. City swarmed them and spent much of the first twenty minutes on the edge of the Spurs box. Spurs dealt with it by throwing themselves into last-ditch blocks and throwing interceptions.

For all their dominance, City struggled to create clear-cut chances. They played beautiful football, but failed on their last ball. Midway through the half, Foden made a nice pirouette on the ball and played it to Bobb. Bobb made a nice pirouette on the ball and played it to Josko Gvardiol. Gvardiol cut his cross into Row Z.

Micky van de Ven produced a stunning goal-line clearance to deny Julian Alvarez when the match was goalless

Kevin de Bruyne started on the bench, but was brought into the fray to help City get over the line

Aké bundled the ball over the line in the 88th minute to secure victory for City in London

Guardiola threw his hands in the air in frustration and four minutes before half-time he danced another desperate dance on the touchline. Rodri had a shot blocked. It bounced back to Mateo Kovacic. His shot was blocked. It bounced back to Bobb. His piledriver flew towards the goal until Dejan Kulusevski pounced on it and deflected it backwards for a corner.

When the half-time whistle sounded, Postecoglou turned towards the tunnel with a grimace on his face. Guardiola put his hands deep in his pockets and walked to the changing rooms with his head bowed. It hadn’t exactly been the party of fun that many had predicted.

City created a brilliant chance two minutes after the break when Bobb curled a caressing cross at the back post for Julian Alvarez. Alvarez controlled it and aimed an accurate shot at goal, but Micky van der Ven got the faintest of touches to deflect it wide. On the sidelines, Guardiola stood frozen in disbelief.

Five minutes later, Spurs finally created a chance of their own. Timo Werner played a brilliant through ball to Brennan Johnson, but although Johnson reached the ball for Stefan Ortega, he couldn’t quite lift the ball over the goalkeeper as he spread at his feet.

But then the match descended into a patient, difficult war of attrition again. The biggest cheer of the entire match came eighteen minutes from time when Maddison came off the bench to replace Rodrigo Bentancur. To spoil the party, the city called in De Bruyne.

Ange Postecoglou watched as his Tottenham team ultimately collapsed against City

Brennan Johnson had a great chance to win the game for Spurs, but couldn’t lift the ball over Stefan Ortega

Spurs pulled off a breathtaking end-to-end move fifteen minutes from time, moving the ball from close to their own corner flag into the City box with a series of intricate passing moves that ended with a strong run and cross from substitute Oliver Skipp. As with so many bursts of creativity in this game, the move was ended by good, disciplined defending.

City had another chance ten minutes before the end when Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg missed Bernardo Silva’s cross and Alvarez’s shot was smothered on the line by Vicario.

City squandered a brilliant opportunity a minute later when Spurs managed to give the ball away in their own area and Foden fed De Bruyne. De Bruyne took his time and went for the corner, but somehow his shot flew wide.

Just when it looked like the force field was holding, Ake grabbed the winner to break Spurs hearts and end the City hoodoo in this corner of north London.