Tottenham Hotspur 2 Hull City 2: Battling Hull endure the agonies of shoot-out exit

Grease 2, Empire Strikes Back and Jaws 4:The Revenge are just three of the lame follow-ups that, down the years, have proved to be an insult to the fine movie that had gone before.

With that in mind, supporters of Hull City and Tottenham Hotspur could have been forgiven last night for fearing the worst when making their way to White Hart Lane to watch their teams do battle for the second time inside four days.

They got, however, exactly the opposite as ‘Tottenham v Hull: Part II’ proved to be a truly scintillating Cup tie that had a bit of everything – including, sadly for Hull, a tear-jerking finale as Tottenham prevailed in a penalty shoot-out.

Ahmed Elmohamady, the game’s outstanding player in two absorbing hours of play, missed the all-important spot-kick by firing at Brad Friedel’s legs.

With Kyle Walker having moments earlier made it 8-7 in the shoot-out by converting his own penalty, it meant Hull’s hopes of a first appearance in the League Cup quarter-final were over.

As painful as last night’s exit was, however, the Yorkshire side could at least take solace from the full part they played in an enthralling contest that was a massive improvement on Sunday’s Premier League game between the two teams.

That 1-0 defeat for Hull had been a dour affair, with the main talking point being the award of the late decisive penalty – something Steve Bruce labelled a “joke”, which yesterday predictably brought a Football Association disciplinary charge.

A penalty may have again settled last night’s tie but that was about the only similarity between the two contests as Hull took the game to their hosts in a manner that had been largely absent four days earlier.

The tone for the entertainment that followed was set on 16 minutes when Gylfi Sigurdsson opened the scoring with a contender for goal of the year.

Collecting a pass from Kyle Naughton, the Spurs man showed tremendous guile to turn away from Curtis Davies before 
unleashing an unstoppable 20-yard shot that gave Eldin 
Jakupovic no chance.

After going ahead, Tottenham perhaps understandably dominated possession for the rest of the first half.

However, it was Hull who went closest to finding the net with Elmohamady bringing a fine reaction save from Brad Friedel.

Striker Danny Graham then seemed to have the simple task of tapping the rebound into an empty net only for Younes Kaboul to clear with a superb last-gasp tackle.

Earlier, Graham had been guilty of an amazing miss from just six yards out when found by Stephen Quinn – though some of the Hull forward’s blushes were then spared by a late offside flag.

Eight minutes into the second half, however, it was Friedel’s turn to be left red-faced after an almighty howler saw the Spurs goalkeeper turn into his own net a shot from Curtis Davies that was missing the target.

It was the spark the tie had needed and, three minutes later, Aaron Mclean went close with a shot just moments after Naughton had saved what seemed a certain goal when clearing under intense pressure from Davies.

As the visitors enjoyed their best spell of the game, Tottenham grew frustrated and Jermaine Defoe was booked for a dive on the edge of the area.

That frustration did not, though, prevent Tottenham from creating chances of their own as Jakupovic beat away Erik Lamela’s effort and Harry Kane thundered a 25-yard effort against an upright.

There was no let-up in extra-time as Hull went ahead in the 98th minute when Boyd’s in-swinging corner was met by McShane with a bullet header.

It was not, though, enough to settle an absorbing contest as Kane drew Spurs level with a deft finish three minutes into the second period to send the tie to penalties.

Aaron Mclean missed Hull’s first effort but with only Erik Lamela also failing in the first 15 spotkicks, it meant Friedel’s save from Elmohamady spelled heartache for the Tigers.

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Tottenham Hotspur: Friedel; Walker, Vertonghen, Kaboul, Naughton (Chiriches 68); Paulinho, Dembele, Sigurdsson, Eriksen (Chadli 68, Kane 78), Lamela; Defoe. Unused substitutes: Llors, Holtby, Capoue, Bentaleb.

Hull City: Jakupovic; Elmohamady, Bruce (Proschwitz 33), Davies, McShane, Rosenior; Koren (Gedo 81), Meyler, Quinn; Boyd; Graham (Mclean 46). Unused substitutes: Harper, Figueroa, Sagbo, Faye.

Referee: J Moss (Tyne & Wear).