Tottenham 'apologise to fans' after embarrassing FA Cup exit

Tottenham Hotspur assistant head coach Cristian Stellini apologised to the club’s fans after they were dumped out of the FA Cup by Sheffield United.

Blades substitute Iliman Ndiaye’s second-half strike clinched the tie for the Championship promotion-chasers to set up a home quarter-final tie against Blackburn Rovers.

Tottenham’s wait for a major trophy continues – they won the League Cup in 2008 – and they have now exited the FA Cup at the fifth-round stage three times in the last four years.

Head coach Antonio Conte missed his side’s latest exit as he recovers from gallbladder surgery and Stellini said: “I think we missed a big opportunity and we have to apologise to the fans.

“There were 5,000 of them here to watch our performance and we apologise because we missed a big opportunity.”

The closest Tottenham came to scoring was in the first half through Lucas Moura’s cross-shot which skimmed the bar, while 65th-minute substitute Harry Kane headed Ivan Perisic’s stoppage-time cross wide.

Stellini made six changes after Sunday’s win against Chelsea and revealed England captain Kane had been struggling with illness. The Italian insisted it was the right decision to start with Kane on the bench at Bramall Lane.

“It is not a regret,” Stellini said. “We need to look in the medium period, we have many games.

“Harry Kane played in the last six games, one time with fever, one time with a problem. We have to take care of our best player.

“It’s not about Harry [the defeat] because we played with Richarlison, Lucas Moura and Sonny [Son Heung-min].

“I think it is good enough to play in this competition and against this sort of team.”

Grimsby's Gavan Holohan, right, celebrates with his teammates after scoring his side's second goal