Tottenham Hotspur 3-0 Doncaster Rovers, Carabao Cup result – Spurs see off spirited League One visitors to continue strong start to the season

Tottenham Hotspur continued their impressive start to life under Thomas Frank with a comfortable 3-0 win over Doncaster Rovers in the EFL Cup third round.

The Spurs boss made seven changes from the team that started the 2-2 draw with Brighton at the weekend, but there was still a strong look to the Spurs XI, and they began the game well, with Archie Gray and Xavi Simons pulling the strings in midfield and wingers Wilson Odobert and Brennan Johnson causing havoc with their pace.

An audacious overhead kick from Joao Palhinha got the home side on the board after 15 minutes, when a poor clearance dropped nicely for the Portugal international, who played at centre-back on the night, to turn flamboyantly on target.

And Spurs were soon two to the good when Odobert’s dangerous run and cross forced a close-range own goal off the unfortunate Jay McGrath.

Chances went begging throughout for Spurs, with Mathys Tel the most profligate and Doncaster goalkeeper Ian Lawlor making some decent saves. But the visitors were not without their threat either, troubling Tottenham for long periods after the break and with Owen Bailey drawing an excellent save out of Antonin Kinsky.

Doncaster huffed and puffed, but it was the home fans who were given two more reasons to cheer late on, first with a debut appearance for 16-year-old academy prospect Luca Williams-Barnett, and then for a stoppage-time third by the impressive Johnson, finished clinically after a lightning break.

It’s been a big night in the Europa League this evening too. Check out what’s been happening in our live report:

You can stream the Premier League, Men’s and Women’s FA Cup, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Conference League and more on TNT Sports and discovery+.

That includes an intriguing contest between Brentford and Manchester United in the Premier League this weekend, a host of Europa League fixtures tomorrow night, and Tottenham's next European fixture away at Bodø/Glimt next week.

Thomas Frank will be relatively happy with the job his rotated team did this evening, although there is still clearly room for improvement in this new Spurs era, with Doncaster enjoying good spells of possession and control of the game, particularly in the second half. But two early goals and a stoppage-time third by Brennan Johnson meant it was comfortable for the Premier League side in the end, and they could have scored many more on a night where plenty of decent opportunities were missed. The north London side will discover their opponents in the next round when the draw takes place a little later on this evening.

The final whistle goes and Spurs are through to the fourth round of the EFL Cup, as it ends 3-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Spurs win the ball back in their own half and rip Doncaster open on the counter. Johnson turns on the afterburners with a run off the ball and he’s picked out by Bergvall’s through ball. The Welshman is a brilliant finisher and makes no mistake with the one-on-one, dinking the ball over the keeper to make it 3-0 right at the death.

Doncaster break and Gibson cuts in from the left and shoots from the edge of the box, but his wayward effort flies well over the bar.

Williams-Barnett does really nicely down the left and sets Udogie away. He crosses for Johnson, who doesn’t turn it home but the ball loops up for Bergvall to finish into an empty net. The goal is ruled out though, because Johnson was the wrong side of the last man as he darted in.

Tel is withdrawn late on, and he is replaced by the 16-year-old Luca Williams-Barnett, who is a hugely rated young attacking player from the Spurs academy. The crowd stand to applaud his arrival for a senior debut.

Spurs keep the ball alive well down the right before Porro throws himself down looking for a penalty. It’s not great and gets a booking, presumably for trying to buy the foul because there was contact, but initiated by the Spurs man.

The visiting team continue to work their socks off as they look for a late comeback, but it’s not quite happening for them tonight.

Brennan Johnson has been excellent on the right flank tonight and he burns past his full-back again before fizzing the ball low into the mixer. Richarlison bust a gut to try and get up in support and threw himself towards the ball, but couldn’t quite stretch enough to get a toe on it.

Gray does superbly once again on the right, he’s having a quietly excellent game here, and whips in a peach of a cross. Bergvall arrives like a train, but he makes a right mess of his header and doesn’t manage to get the ball on target.

Doncaster make a triple change, with Crew, Gotts and Gibson replacing Sbarra, Close and Middleton, while Udogie replaces Spence at full-back for Spurs. Thomas Frank would have liked to have turned to some of his young players here ideally, but the result isn’t comfortable yet.

Bailey curls a free-kick fractions wide and into the side netting, with the ball hitting the stanchion and running along the back of the net on the wrong side, fooling pretty much all of the travelling fans.

Hanlan looks to dance in behind and Danso hooks a boot up to clear, but the referee gives a free-kick for a high boot. It’s an odd one – on one hand perhaps he’s lucky to escape further punishment if that is the assessment of the official, but on the other hand it’s pretty harsh on the defender. The result is a free-kick in a very dangerous situation.

You can stream the Premier League, Men’s and Women’s FA Cup, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Conference League and more on TNT Sports and discovery+.

Alternatively, follow our live blog of tonight's Europa League action here:

For the second time this evening Johnson gets outside his man and fires the ball across the face of goal only for Tel to swing at fresh air. To do that once is frustrating, to do it twice suggests a technical issue in that situation. He just needed to get a touch.

Molyneux looks to go around Spence, but it takes some serious pace to do that and the Spurs full-back eases the substitute off the ball and deals with it well.

Both managers turn to the bench. Richarlison and Bervall come on for Spurs, replacing Odobert and Xavi Simons. Doncaster take off Ajayi and Olusanya, with Halan and Molyneux coming on.