LONDON, England – Tottenham produced a rousing finish to beat Bolton 3-1 in the FA Cup quarter-finals on Tuesday, 10 days after the original match was abandoned because of Fabrice Muamba’s on-field cardiac arrest.
Ryan Nelsen, Gareth Bale and Louis Saha scored in the final 16 minutes to earn Spurs a semifinal meeting against London rival Chelsea at Wembley Stadium on April 15.
It was an emotional reunion for the two teams at White Hart Lane, the scene of Muamba’s collapse when the Bolton midfielder’s heart stopped beating on its own for 78 minutes. He was revived by medics and is now making encouraging progress in the hospital.
“The events of 10 days ago were fresh and it was an opportunity for everybody to say thanks for the support,” Bolton manager Owen Coyle said.
With Muamba in the midst of a remarkable recovery that has captured the public’s imagination across the globe, the Tottenham-Bolton match was as much a celebration of the midfielder’s improved health as a fight to reach the semifinals.
A stadium that fell eerily quiet when Muamba collapsed just before halftime on March 17 was filled with a minute’s applause from both sets of fans to honour the former England under-21 international.
“As horrible as those events were, there’s been a real positivity about what has come out from it,” Coyle said. “We have the best game in the world, bar none. But to see it in such a good light, although we don’t want to see the scenes that we did, was great.”
Coyle acknowledged before the game that he didn’t know how his players would react returning to the scene of such a traumatic occasion.
Emotionally, they seemed to hold up well, although they had to adapt after the 25th-minute loss to injury of midfielder Darren Pratley, who was carried off on a stretcher from almost the identical place where Muamba’s chest was pumped by medics to keep him alive.
Bolton was no match for a rampant Spurs, though, with goalkeeper Adam Bogdan producing a series of stunning saves to keep the home side at bay.
“It was one of the great goal-keeping performances,” Spurs manager Harry Redknapp said. “You just couldn’t believe what was happening.”
Nelsen finally broke the deadlock in the 74th minute by looping a header into the top corner after meeting a cross from Rafael van der Vaart, who had earlier curled a free kick against the bar.
Bale slotted home the second after running onto a pass by substitute Jermain Defoe from a rapid counterattack, before Kevin Davies pulled a goal back for Bolton in the 90th minute.
Saha settled any Tottenham nerves with a cracking finish on the turn from 20 yards.
“Two great semifinals, all-London derby and Merseyside derby. A fantastic weekend to look forward to,” Redknapp said.
