Wycombe Wanderers’ Jewish duo have unfinished business with Spurs tonight

Wycombe Wanderers duo Joe Jacobson and Scott Kashket are hoping luck is on their side this time around when they face Tottenham Hotspur in their FA Cup fourth round tie on Monday.

Both played when the sides last met, in 2017 at White Hart Lane – a tie that they somehow lost 4-3, having gone into the last minute of the game leading 3-2.

Looking forward to enacting revenge for that heart-breaking defeat, defender Jacobson told Jewish News: “We’re now a Championship club, not a League Two side and are a better team than we were back then. I still don’t think anybody will give us a chance, but we’re more confident among ourselves. We should have beaten them last time and it was only two mistakes that cost us two late goals. 

“We’ve got those memories to fall back on and know we can compete against these players.

“You have to sometimes be lucky
at the right place at the right time, that’s how football works.

“Once you’re out on the pitch with these players, there’s not really a massive gulf in quality or class, it’s just 11 guys against 11 guys and anything can happen. 

“We’ve played on big stages before like play-off finals so we just need to produce one of those performances again. For me as a Spurs fan, this was the perfect draw and a game I’m really looking forward to.”

Kashket will be hoping to lead the Wanderers’ attack and while excited at the prospect of testing himself against Premier League defenders, will be treating it just as any other game. “Honestly, for me, drawing Tottenham wasn’t a big thing at all,” he says. “I would have liked an easier draw that would have given us a better chance of progressing further in the competition, but regardless of the opponents, I treat every game the same, be it Chorley or Tottenham. Every player’s different, some may be excited, but for me it’s just another game against better opposition.

Once you’re out on the pitch with these players, there’s not really a massive gulf in quality or class, it’s just 11 guys against 11 guys and anything can happen

“In a one-off game there’s always a chance and I think it helps us being at home on our pitch. Their bigger pitch would have helped them more, so I think we have a better chance this time around – although it would have been nice to play at their new ground.”

The match could give Jacobson a chance to come up against fellow Welshman Gareth Bale, a reunion he’s eagerly anticipating. 

“We played together in a Wales U21 match back in 2006, both on the left-hand side and, even then, I could see he was a special player. He hasn’t had the best of season’s due to injury and is probably thinking a game against Wycombe could kick-start his season. We have to be careful when players have that mentality, that they can use us as a springboard for their season.

“I want to test myself against the best players in Europe and the world and Spurs definitely have some attacking players who are on that level. It’s exciting to be on the same pitch as them and although we’re still the underdogs, we’ll go into the game with nothing to lose.”

Facing a higher calibre of player is also something that excites Kashket. “The better the defender I come up against, the better I can test myself,” he says. “I look forward to that and hopefully the team can get a very good result. 

“Unfortunately we won’t have our fans behind us, but with or without them, the winners will be the team who plays better on the day.”