This NLD business was a lot easier when we were rubbish. For the 10 years prior to the last few, the Lilywhites played the plucky, at best, losers to the goonies as they went in search of greater prizes. It was our ‘cup final’, where we’d occasionally flirted with victory, but inevitably had to settle for a point at best while watching them turn attentions to the bigger fish in the Premier pond; our own reign of incompetence seeing them treat the annual Tottenham visits and excursions as ‘just another fixture’ to swat away. There was always a sense that their followers struggled to rouse even the most basic of schoolyard posturing, every inevitable victory after every insipid Tottenham surrender, such was often the manner of our collapses. At least they were good enough to recognise that we were still rivals in a local sense, just enough for us to feel that ignominious sting of derby defeat that little bit more.
But this is a brave new world where, keep it to a whisper if you must, but the tide is turning. ‘F**K OFF YOU DELUDED SPUD C**T’, is a typically eloquent response you may tease out from one of their wandering, dead-eyed troglodytes to this particular suggestion; not because they don’t see it, and feel the need to point out how wrong we are, but in fact because they know, being on the fading crest of their early-noughties wave, that we’re right. And they’re more than a little worried. Want proof? Anyone who bore witness to the truly pathetic and *literal* song and dance that their fans made after beating (after extra-time) our youth/second string (not in their universe where there’s half a team of first team regulars, mixed with a second string, but an ACTUAL team of youth and second string) in the Carling Cup will testify to how monumental this was for them. Redemption for last year’s title hope quashing defeat at fortress White Hart? Not quite.
Further proof? The fun we all had following our win at their place earlier this season. If the game didn’t bring enough smiles to our faces; our message boards alive with Spurs fans indulging in online group-hugging to an almost sickening level to follow our sickeningly sweet triumph, but for once, the intrusion of their number into our territory was welcomed whole-heartedly, as the baiting, back-biting and the sheer stench of their desperate protestations was a joy to behold; quoting their ‘invincibles’ and stating that they’re a team on the verge of something truly special one moment, then accusing us of living in the past and labouring under delusion the very next. You couldn’t make it up.
And let’s not forget the joy they took in laughing off our pursuit of Champions League football; written off and derided at every turn, with the inevitable ‘u woz aaat ov yur depf’ when we finally succumbed the most successful side in the history of the competition. I’d offer an equally predictable ‘how was your quarter-final?’ in retort, but their disappearing smiles as we marched on and marched beyond their best efforts in our debut season, summed up their embarrassment better than I could ever hope to do.
So to our impending clash at The Lane, where the water bottles of Tottenham have been put on red alert for the arrival of Doctor Wenger. The past be damned, as the measure of any decent side is their ability to bounce back from adversity, and surely with a burning desire to avoid being remembered as the seasons comic relief, that lot haven’t fallen so far as to not be considered a significant challenge.
Good news for us sees Emptycrates winning-goal bagger Kaboul ready to be selected at right-back, although Harry’s caution in allowing Charlie to continue there against Real could mean that he sits out the start to provide an extra threat towards the closing stages should it be required. Lennon and Bale are almost certain starters, but will Harry stick with the Mods/Thudd partnership that proved to be a winning combo against the same opposition last year, or will he be tempted to shoe-horn the off-colour VdV in at the expense of Pav? It wouldn’t be my choice, but I’m guessing that’s exactly what he’ll do.
The NLD business is a lot more complicated for us these days. No longer just our one cup final, but one of many in this new era of competitive and intent-filled Tottenham campaigns. Defeat wouldn’t quite kill off the dream of a return to the big time, but it certainly wouldn’t help, and now that this fixtures resonance goes beyond mere pride, it will smart all the more. Win, and we catapult ourselves into the driving seat for another go, and in so doing, extinguish any remaining hopes they had of challenging for the title. Just like last year.
It’s on the edge of the edge, of the edge, of a knife edge this one, but here’s to 3-1 to the men of Hotspur.
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