At-a-glance League Cup fixtures and results

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Carling Cup Round 2:

Grimsby vs Tottenham H.

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* = won on penalties

BBC League Cup page

League Cup (Carling): Round 2

Good Cod. Spurs All At Sea.

Sept 20 (SSn 05/06)
Grimsby Town 1
Tottenham H. 0

Last time I heard the words Kamudimba Kalala I was singing along with a bleary eyed bunch of fishermen around a camp fire on the remoter edge of a well known safari park. Never did like the song (actually it may not have had those exact words, but close enough after a flask of moonshine and jungle juice). I always felt as if those strains would come back to haunt me in later life. I tried to change the singing to Gilzean, born is the King of White Hart Lane but it went down about as well as the cream of locust soup.

Kamudimba Kalala did, as you anticipated, return to haunt me. In the form of a player representing Grimsby Town, a club that according to the financial suits would have been better off disbanded a few years ago when they could only muster up four professional players on their overdrawn payroll account.

Spurs should be sponsored by "Fisherman's Friend" after this awful display, allowing The Mariners easy passage to a possible ocean of riches. Let's hope they get a good catch in the next round.

We didn't get battered. We didn't get burned. But we played liked we were half-baked. In contrast, as we see from their League Two position, The Codheads love to fry and it shows.

Let's not kid ourselves. The League Cup is an important competition for Spurs, and for a full strength side to get dumped out, having played painfully mediocre football to boot, was a big blow. For those who have to go into work tomorrow and face sniggering Pykies, Scummers and Spammers, it will be all the more painful, until rectified by a swift fist to the jaw.

Competition in The Prem is fierce for those Euro spots. Unlike Chelsea, Arsenal, and ManUre, who will trot out their reserves (who of course are equivalent to everyone else's first team), Spurs put out a line-up designed to get us into the Final, and other than cup-tied players, Jol chose nothing less than what he sees as one of our strongest line-ups.

The cash strapped Mariners will be delighted. Their previously empty coffer will be considerably less hollow from the proceeds of this game - a full gate and the tv money - and will now be significantly further replenished. From a team in total disarray less than two years ago, they are currently sitting atop League Two, and have the prospect of another big name draw for the next round. Times review.