FA Cup: Tottenham maul Marine

Tottenham`s Carlos Vinicius celebrates a goal against Marine during their FA Cup tie on Sunday. Pic/Getty Images

Marine's part-time players had been holding off Tottenham for 20 minutes when apprentice plumber Neil Kengni spotted his chance. Some 30 metres from the goal of Joe Hart, who has played at a World Cup for England, Kengni unleashed a shot.

Surely the semi-professional eighth-tier club could not take the lead against the Premier League's fourth-place team. Only the crossbar spared the blushes and Tottenham of Hart, who tipped the ball over to be sure.

Biggest mismatch

Incredibly, it took Tottenham 24 minutes to beat goalkeeper Bayleigh Passant in the biggest mismatch in FA Cup history as Carlos Vinícius broke the unexpectedly long deadlock on Sunday. "For an eighth-tier team to see out Tottenham for 24 minutes is something special but we felt there we could have kept them out for a little bit longer," Passant said. "It was just a lack of concentration."

It didn't always look like 161 places separated these sides in the English football pyramid as Marine defended valiantly against the 2019 Champions League runners-up. Tottenham went on to win 5-0 - with Vinícius scoring a hat trick.

Hosts show fight

"We showed fight and determination that we didn't want to make a laughing stock out of ourselves," said Passant, who also works in a supermarket. "People around the world and in Crosby can be happy with us that even though we got beaten 5-0 we tried our best."

This was the ultimate culture shock for the millionaires of Tottenham. They changed in a wedding venue that's part of Marine Travel Arena. While Harry Kane was left out, this was still a Tottenham side packed with international stars, including Gareth Bale. Yet even a trip to Marine saw Bale's frustrations continue with a free kick saved by Passant. "We started seriously and we finished seriously," Mourinho said. "We tried to kill the game as soon as we could."

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