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Late double strike puts Spurs into final

  • Story Highlights
  • Holders Tottenham through to Carling Cup final despite 3-2 defeat at Burnley
  • Two late goals sees Spurs home after Burnley seemed set for unlikely victory
  • Burnley led 3-0 after 90 minutes and would have reached final on away goals
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(CNN) -- Two goals in the final two minutes of extra-time put holders Tottenham into the final of the Carling Cup just when Championship side Burnley -- who won 3-2 on the night -- seemed set for a remarkable and unlikely aggregate win on a wet and windy night in northern England.

Tottenham winger David Bentley (right) is sent flying as the Carling Cup holders scraped into the final again.

Tottenham winger David Bentley (right) is sent flying as the Carling Cup holders scraped into the final again.

With Tottenham 4-1 ahead from the first leg, Burnley needed to win 3-0 or better to secure a final date against Manchester United at Wembley next month and they did just that -- winning 3-0 over 90 minutes to send the match into extra time.

But, with the home side set to go through on the away goals rule, and with time ebbing away, Roman Pavlyuchenko slotted home Benoit Assou-Ekotto's pass from the left with 118 minutes on the clock to break Burnley hearts.

Then, to add insult to injury, Jermain Defoe broke free as Burnley piled forward to score Tottenham's second.

With the wet conditions playing a major part throughout the entire match, Burnley scored the only goal of a scrappy first-half in the 34th minute when Robbie Blake's superb long-range free-kick fooled debutant goalkeeper Ben Alnwick, who had shaped himself in anticipation of a cross into the area.

However, Blake superbly curled the ball around a two-man wall and into the top corner, leaving Alnwick badly out of position.

Tottenham came out with more conviction after the break. In the 47th minute Luka Modric neatly side-stepped a defender on the edge of the area, but blasted over the bar.

Then, in the 63rd minute, substitute Gareth Bale broke through on the left but blasted wide with Defoe better placed in the middle.

Three minutes later, Tottenham missed another chance when Defoe seized on a mistake by defender Clarke Carlisle but goalkeeper Brian Jensen came out to block.

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Against the run of play, Burnley added a second in the 73rd minute. Some superb play from Blake on the left saw him twist and weave between two defenders before firing in a low cross which Chris McCann slotted home.

Tottenham pressed again and in the 77th minute Pavlyuchenko somehow contrived to blast his shot wide from inside the aear after being teed up by Bale.

With time running out and, cheered on by a passionate home crowd, Burnley achieved the impossible with three minutes left when Blake's free-kick was dropped by Alnwick, giving substitute Jay Rodriguez a simple opportunity to fire into an empty net and send the match into extra-time

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