FA Cup: Spurs, Everton wriggle through

Harry Redknapp took his place on the Tottenham bench as his Premier League side squeezed past Watford 1-0 to advance to the last 16 of the FA Cup on Friday.

Spurs midfielder Rafael van der Vaart scored the only goal at Vicarage Road as Redknapp was given cause to smile after a demanding week which has seen him in the dock of a London court on trial for tax evasion.

"We played a bad game today and Watford deserved more, maybe a win," van der Vaart said. "They were the better team. Sometimes you have these kind of days. The pitch was heavy and Watford played great."

The goal was hard on Watford, who had matched the Premier League pace-setters well throughout the opening period and will be ruing their failure to convert any one of half a dozen chances.

In Friday's other fourth round game, Everton came from behind to defeat Fulham 2-1 in a hard-fought battle at Goodison Park.

A goal 17 minutes from time from Everton's Belgian international midfielder Marouane Fellaini clinched victory for the Toffees, who had equalised through Denis Stracqualursi after Danny Murphy put Fulham ahead from the penalty spot after only 14 minutes when Johnny Heitinga was adjuged to have blocked Chris Baird's shot with his arm.

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