Spurs v Arsenal: the North London Derby (a potted history).

What a load of…

Colchester United 0 Spurs 0 (Colchester United win 4-3 on penalties).

What a load of shite! Plucky Colchester came to play and get a giant-killing under their belt, we came…. Well, what did we come to do? Certainly not fight our way to the League Cup final.

So, little League Two Colchester United produced a massive upset as they beat Premier League Tottenham (yes, us!) on penalties to reach the Carabao Cup fourth round. They came to fight, they put their souls into the game. We thought that this would be a stroll in the park. Obviously, it wasn’t.

Pochettino is known not to take these competitions (FA Cup as well) seriously.  Probably that is why we are getting the results we are getting in such competitions. All he is focused on is the Premier League and Champions League, and in both these cases, he is stuttering.

But before all that: people take the Michael because I leave so early for matches (but there is a method in my madness). I left at 2pm for the game, it should only take 2 hours and 20 minutes. In other words, I should have arrived at 4.20, but ended up getting to the ground at 6.15pm. The M4, M25 and A12 had road works, accidents and hold-ups on them (on top of all that, the bad weather hit the roads). This is becoming the norm of late. When at last I got to the ground there was nowhere to park (Park-and-ride and the ground car park was sold out), however, I did manage to find a cark park on an industrial site, 15 minutes walk from the ground. They charged £6, so I was in.

I made my way to the ground, got something to eat and a programme. Then entered and chatted. Found my seat at the top of the stand; I also noticed that other people with disabilities were put at the top, and those that were able-bodied were put closer to the front. To be fair; the ticketing office didn’t know what limitations one had. However, if you mentioned it, it might limit your chances of getting a ticket, so the best option is to say nothing and bear the struggle. If anything, we Spurs supporters’ are troopers. Do or die is our attitude for the club.

We settled down for a thrashing… that is a Colchester thrashing. When we played Tranmere Rovers in the FA club Rd, we gave them a what-for! And we expected the same for little Colchester, after all, we were the mighty Spurs. Ironically, the last away game win, in this country was against Tranmere, back in January.  So, how does a 5-0 win sound? No, I hear you shout, the margin should be a lot wider, and wider it wasn’t… it wasn’t even close… and it wasn’t us walking away with the spoils.

The plucky Essex side - the lowest-ranked team left in the competition - frustrated last year's semi-finalists (us!) throughout the 90 minutes and won a dramatic shootout after Christian Eriksen and Lucas Moura missed from the spot. Eriksen has a habit of missing penalties of late. Obviously, his heart isn’t in it.

After Eriksen's first kick of the shootout was saved by Dean Gerken, the hosts looked to have wasted their advantage when Jevani Brown tried an audacious 'Panenka' effort, which was so weak that Paulo Gazzaniga was able to abort his dive, stand up and punch the ball to safety.

But when Moura smashed Tottenham's fifth effort against the bar, Tom Lapslie stepped up to send Colchester into the last 16 for the first time in 44 years and prompt wild celebrations.

After the penalty shoot out, our players came over to our end to applaud, our supporters in return booed. I think they looked shocked, and so they should. They vetted their anger out on the players; abuse galore was coming from their mouths.

Amongst all this there was a pitch invasion, their supporters swamped their players. Amazing scenes.

Some of their supporters, who invaded the pitch, came over to our side and taunted our fans. Our enthusiasts in return tried to get on the field and have a go back, but the Stewards and police held them back; otherwise, there could have been scenes of carnage.

Not for the first time, we walked back to our cars with our heads hanging down.

I must say that I got out of the carpark pretty quickly and my Sat Nav was showing that I would reach home at 12.30am. But nothing in life is that easy. Junction 28, on the M25, was closed, and Junction 27. So I had to go on the North Circular. Which took me past Hanna’s house, so I popped in for a drink and something to eat. Made my way to Tottenham and then caught the M25 from there. Got home at 1.30, an hour later.

What next? Southampton and then Bayern Munich. Need I say it; we must win, or we will sink into a hole, and the only way out could be Pochettino’s dismissal.

Pochettino is still liked by the majority of supporters, but there are limits to that support. Let us hope he turns it around quickly, for all our sakes.

By Glenn Renshaw