It was February 1990 that Spurs last beat Chelsea, when Terry Venables and Bobby Campbell were in charge of the two sides, Nelson Mandela was still in prison and Manchester United had not won the title for 23 years.

It was a hoodoo that had held sway for 26 games, but it was exorcised in stunning style as Spurs thrashed their lacklustre West London rivals in a 5-1 second leg triumph.

Indeed, in overturning a 2-1 first leg deficit in such fashion, Hoddle proved that Tottenham's supposed managerial Messiah can perform miracles, after all.

Chelsea had appealed to their fans not to taint the club's image after missiles were thrown at players in the first leg. But it was their players who shockingly let them down at White Hart Lane.

Not only was it the fairweather Chelsea side that turned up, the one that ensures they will forever be plagued by the tag that is politely known as inconsistency.

But Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was also sent off, albeit in a case of mistaken identity as it was Mario Melchiot who actually deserved to be punished for slapping Teddy Sheringham around the face.

Sheringham had just put Spurs 3-0 up after strikes by Steffen Iversen, after just one minute, and Tim Sherwood, who had looked to be on his way out of the club recently until Steffen Freund's injury, had seized the initiative.

And there was no way back as Simon Davies and even substitute Sergei Rebrov rounded off the scoring to ensure Spurs booked a final spot against Blackburn in the competition which they last won in 1999

All this after the home side had supposedly been weakened by the loss of Les Ferdinand only for his replacement, Iversen, to take just 105 seconds to make his mark in his first start since August due to an ankle injury.

Sheringham's sublime dummy left Mauricio Taricco in the clear but when his shot was parried by Carlo Cudicini, defender John Terry was like a rabbit caught in headlights as he delayed a straightforward clearance.

That enabled Iversen to bundle the ball home from close range and there were soon further problems for Chelsea as Boudewijn Zenden went off injured yet again.

Claudio Ranieri's solution was to bring on Sam dalla Bona in an attempt to stem Tottenham's continuing flood of pressure, but still his side missed in-form Gianfranco Zola's creative edge.

In a raw, full-blooded cup tie, they were also being out-run in midfield, where Emmanuel Petit was a peripheral figure and Sherwood, along with Poyet and Darren Anderton, forcefully held sway.

Indeed, when Poyet's instinctive half-volley was tipped over, it was Sherwood who struck again from the ensuing corner on 32 minutes.

Anderton's delivery initially looked to have been mishit but the ball flew straight along the ground to his midfield colleague, who had escaped the attentions of his marker, dalla Bona.

Sherwood spun onto the ball and crashed an unstoppable drive into the top corner. Even Neil Sullivan raced out of his goal to join the celebrations.

In contrast, Chelsea were being submerged in a sea of mediocrity, with a foul throw by Mario Stanic, a tame free-kick by Hasselbaink and a slip by Marcel Desailly in a three-minute spell summing up their woes.

The interval came and went and nothing had changed. The rain intensified and so Chelsea's hopes were washed away.

Within four minutes of the restart, Anderton delivered a telling cross from the left and Poyet chested the ball into the path of Sheringham.

The England international, who missed the first leg tie through suspension, struck a first-time volley unerringly into the far corner and stood as motionless in celebration as the Chelsea defence had been in their marking.

Chelsea's growing frustration now boiled over, although it was Hasselbaink, not compatriot Melchiot, who was sent off with 35 minutes left as referee Mark Halsey had been partially unsighted by Sheringham.

The loss of their leading scorer was still a far more telling blow to the visitors but even though Zola and Mikael Forssell both came on, Spurs simply toyed with their wounded visitors before striking again.

Davies beat keeper Cudicini at the near post and then, with four minutes left, even unsettled striker Rebrov joined in the rout to convert a chance from close range to complete Chelsea's misery.

Forssell's late strike was no consolation at all as Poyet, his former Chelsea team-mate, led the wild White Hart Lane celebrations. But then this was a party that had been 12 years in the planning stages.