Tottenham are making a habit of taking their League Cup ties into extra time. Today, Martin Jol was disappointed that his side had to play 120 minutes, with so many important fixtures coming up in both the domestic league and Europe. With Ghaly injured, the other Egyptian Mido played the full match. He was a big danger and came close to scoring twice, before providing the killer assist for Jermain Defoe in the last minutes.

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Southend United entered the game bottom of the Championship, but played a very resilient game at White Hart Lane, showinghow they managed to defeat Manchester United in the previous round. Tottenham on the other hand were frustrated by their opponents, whose keeper Darryl Flahavan had an excellent game. In the first half, however, he was beaten by Ahmed Hossam who hit a superb volley onto the bar. In the final minutes of normal time Flahavan made a great diving save to stop a text-book header from the Egyptian. Flahavan seemed the perfect candidate for a penalty shoout-out hero status, but five minutes before the spot kicks, Mido combined with Berbatov to provide a perfect ball into the box for Defoe to bury home, though there was a clear hint of offside.

Spurs started and finished the game well, pressuring Southend and testing goalkeeper Flahavan early on. Mido's volley on goal looked almost opened the scoring, as Defoe crossed in from the left for the Egyptian inside the box. Mido turned himself around 180 degrees to smack a side-footed volley past the goalie but onto the bar. It bounced back off the ground but clearly in front of the goal-line.

In the second half, Flahavan continued to impress, with notable efforts on goal from Danny Murphy as well as Defoe. In stoppage time, a free-kick from Huddlestone was floated into the area, where Mido went for a superb header which was heading for the top corner, only for the keeper to leap and get a hand on it for a corner. Mido's reaction of looking to the floor and holding his head in anguish summed up Spurs' 90 minutes.

Dimitar Berbatov had come on near the end, and Spurs went out to finish the game off in extra time. Defoe looked to be getting worse as he hit a shot miles over before failing to react to an Assou-Ekotto low ball into the danger zone. Mido too had an opporunity when the ball fell luckily for him in the left side of the area, but he didn't hit it cleanly and it deflected for a corner.

With five minutes left on the clock before penalties, Tottenham managed to book their place in the League Cup semi-finals. Berbatov searched out Mido on the left; the latter having made a great off the ball run behind a defender. Mido then swung the ball into the centre for Jermain Defoe - who looked marginally offside - to slide in from close range.

Tottenham join English champions Chelsea and third flight (League Two) club Wycombe Wanderers in the semi-finals, as well as the winner out of Liverpool and Arsenal.

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