Coventry City 1-2 Tottenham (Thomas-Asante 63′ | Spence 88′, Johnson 90+2′)
Tottenham Hotspur winger Brennan Johnson spared Ange Postecoglou’s blushes after scoring a stoppage-time winner against Coventry City in the Carabao Cup.
Postecoglou said in a TV interview after Sunday’s defeat to Arsenal he always won a trophy in his second season at a club.
But Coventry almost cut off one path to Tottenham’s hopes of silverware.
The Sky Blues had threatened to deliver a major blow to Tottenham’s season.
Brandon Thomas-Asante, who cost £2m when making a summer move across the Midlands from West Bromwich Albion, put the Sky Blues ahead after 63 minutes, and it would not have been a surprise if they had extended that leader.
Tottenham looked off the pace for much of the time, but as the tie wore on, their Premier League staying power began to show.
It was second-half substitute Djed Spence who brought them level with two minutes left, and inspired Spurs’ late revival.
Dejan Kulusevski put Spence through and he was able to roll the ball past Coventry goalkeeper Ben Wilson.
The game looked like it would be a penalty shootout, but Spurs were not finished. Rodrigo Bentancur set Johnson clear, and he raced wide of Wilson to slide home in the 92nd minute.
It was the perfect reply from Johnson who had been forced to delete his social media account following Sunday’s defeat to Arsenal.
But Postecoglou will have been a relieved man after his pre-match comments.
The Sky Blues took control after the break and almost took the lead after 55 minutes when Forster came rushing out of his area and collided with Jake Bidwell.
The ball fell loose to Haji Wright, who had an empty goal to aim at, but Spurs captain, Ben Davies, made a superb clearance.
Coventry’s goal was richly deserved. Norman Bassette’s cross from the left was met by Thomas-Asante, who cleverly steered the ball past Forster.
But Coventry almost scored a second when two substitutes combined. Ellis Simms delivered a ball to the far post, but Ephron Mason-Clark just failed to make contact.
Spurs came close to levelling with 10 minutes to go, but Wilson saved from Kulusevski – and then came the late show.