FA Cup: Tottenham 3 Bolton 1

Tottenham booked their spot in the last four of the FA Cup with a dominant 3-1 win over Bolton in Tuesday’s re-arranged quarter-final clash.

The match was originally first played 10 days ago, but had to be abandoned after 23-year old Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba collapsed on the White Hart Lane pitch after suffering from a cardiac arrest.

The re-arranged fixture gave both sets of players the opportunity to play out an emotional and deeply poignant occasion, with all players donning t-shirts and partaking in a minute’s applause in support of Muamba prior to kick-off.

A semi-final tie against Chelsea was the reward for the victors, but both teams had to wait a little longer than previously envisioned, after kick-off was delayed by 15 minutes due to traffic congestion outside the ground.

When the action finally did get underway, Bolton’s Adam Bogdan put on a superb display in goals as time and again he thwarted a rampant home side with a string of superb stops.

The deadlock was finally broken in the 74th minute when Ryan Nelsen nodded in a Rafael Van Der Vaart corner in a crowded penalty area.

Gareth Bale, who remained lively throughout the match, extended their lead just three minutes later after latching onto substitute Jermaine Defoe’s through-ball and finishing with aplomb after cutting back onto his left foot.

Bolton, out-played, out-fought and out-thought for much of the match, managed to hit back in the 89th minute through Kevin Davies’ tapped finish at the back post after an excellent Ivan Klasnic cross deceived the Tottenham backline.

Substitute Louis Saha scored the final goal of the game in the last minute of injury-time, with an effort from the edge of the area after spinning off his marker Zat Knight.

Bolton will be sweating on a potentially serious knee injury to Darren Pratley, who was stretchered off on 25 minutes after fouling Bale as he surged past him just inside the Bolton half.