His goal, of course, is what will dominate the memory of Lucas Moura’s first start for Tottenham but the moment that perhaps summed up why this was such a promising debut had come a few minutes earlier. The ball had run away from the Brazilian as he drifted in from the left and the Rochdale midfielder Callum Camps was clearly going to get to it first. Moura could have eased off and allowed him to clear – on a chilly day any block was going to sting – but instead he kept running, stretched out a leg and made a juddering challenge. The thud reverberated around the ground but Moura, after a tentative step, jogged away.

Everybody knew he was quick, and few doubted his technical ability, but thisThey had been oddly diffident for most of the first half, not disengaged exactly, but lacking a certain ruthlessness – as they had at Newport in the last round. But a quick transition found a defence caught slightly off-balance and Sissoko nudged a pass into the path of Moura’s dart into the box. One touch got the ball under control, another swept it past Josh Lillis in the Rochdale goal. In an instant the home lead was gone and the pressure was off Tottenham, the risk of a first defeat to third-tier opposition in 30 years dissipated.

Twelve minutes later, Moura was withdrawn, more minutes in his legs and his job done. That Spurs could not then finish the game off will have been a frustration for Pochettino but