Tottenham Hotspur needed a 73rd-minute penalty from Andros Townsend to secure a slender 1-0 advantage over third tier Sheffield United after the home leg of their League Cup semi-final yesterday.

It had looked like being a frustrating evening for the Premier League side and four times winners, whose laboured efforts to break down their lower league opponents came to nothing for most of the encounter.

Yet a blatant handball from Jay McEveley gave the hosts the chance to finally break the deadlock and Townsend walloped home from the spot to give them a lead heading into next week’s second leg at Bramall Lane.

The winners of this tie face either Liverpool or Chelsea, who drew 1-1 on Tuesday, in the final at Wembley Stadium next month.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.