Jermain Defoe kept Tottenham on course for Wembley
and brought the curtains down on the Leeds fairytale with a hat-trick
in a high octane fourth-round FA Cup replay at Elland Road.
Defoe's mishit opener in the 37th minute was cancelled out by Luciano
Becchio's equaliser at the end of the first half, but the England
striker poached a second-half winner and then a late third to book
the Londoners a fifth-round tie at Bolton on the weekend after next.
Leeds had put themselves back on the national stage with their
third-round upset at Manchester United and won more new friends
with an inspired late fightback 11 days ago in the initial tie at
White Hart Lane.
But ultimately Simon Grayson's League One upstarts ran out of legs
against polished Champions League contenders, who will now have
one eye at least fixed on the FA Cup.
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