Spurs and Fulham to play it again

Tottenham and Fulham will get another chance to stake their claim for a place in the semi-finals of the FA Cup after their match at Craven Cottage failed to produce a winner.

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Tottenham and Fulham will get another chance to stake their claim for a place in the semi-finals of the FA Cup after their match at Craven Cottage yesterday failed to produce a winner. In a game of few chances, Harry Redknapp, the Spurs manager, will feel aggrieved that his side's claims for a second-half penalty after Brede Hangeland's handball in the area were waived away by the match official Mark Clattenburg.

Mark Schwarzer pulled off two smart saves within the space of two minutes in an uninspiring first half, first palming away Niko Kranjcar's long-range effort before the Australian flew across his goal to push away a Peter Crouch header on the half-hour mark. Spurs edged proceedings as the half drew to a close, with their most creative players, Kranjcar and his Croatian countryman, Luka Modric, trying to pierce the Fulham defence with quick, pin-point passing.

Fulham should have taken the lead less than 60 seconds after the restart as Bobby Zamora headed a Simon Davies cross back across goal, but Zoltan Gera's header goalwards was a the perfect height for Heurelo Gomes to claw the ball away. Hangeland then appeared to handle the ball on 52 minutes as he contested an aerial duel with Crouch, fresh from his two-goal salvo with England in midweek, but the referee waived play on.

Redknapp introduced Jermain Defoe for the largely anonymous Roman Pavlyuchenko with nine minutes remaining, but the England striker, who has scored in every round of this year's FA Cup, failed to make any impact. However, he may well get another chance to try add to his tally when the sides meet again in the replay at White Hart Lane. sluckings@thenational.ae