THE rich and fêted that are Tottenham Hotspur players donated their shirts for auction after this Carling Cup tie, a gesture to help to alleviate Grimsby Town’s crippling debts. The likelihood in these parts is that the shirts worn by the Coca-Cola League Two team would fetch more under the hammer after they secured a famous victory last night.

Jean-Paul Kamudimba Kalala, a 23-year-old summer acquisition from Nice, scored the decisive goal with only two minutes remaining, a prelude to a joyous pitch invasion from home supporters after the final whistle. The Barclays Premiership team, including ten internationals and all of their senior players who were available, were as bereft of ideas as the North Sea was lacking wind and bite on the Cleethorpes shoreline.

That rare but balmy Blundell Park evening for this time of the year north of Enfield might have inspired Tottenham to avoid an embarrassing reverse, yet it was Grimsby who set about their giant-killing deeds with a greater relish. The humiliating second-round exit was confirmed as extra time beckoned, but it was a win fully deserved by the less illustrious of the clubs.

“We had a game plan and we stuck to it,” Russell Slade, the Grimsby manager, said. As a manager of Notts County, he beat Tottenham in this competition in 1994 and with Scarborough, the non-league club, he went close to dumping Chelsea out of the FA Cup two years ago.

“This tops the lot and more than makes up for the Chelsea result,” Slade said. “They had their strongest side out, but credit to my players. It’s not easy to get a Premiership scalp in any cup these days.”

In fact, the League Two leaders contradicted their manager. Rob Jones was an immovable object at the hub of the Grimsby defence and his imposing presence contained Robbie Keane and Jermain Defoe, who appeared sluggish and second-best. There were half-chances at both ends, with Andy Parkinson’s swirling, long-range shot in the 33rd minute bringing Paul Robinson to his knees as the England goalkeeper scooped the effort clear at full stretch.

Many of the capacity 8,206 crowd, including an anxious Tottenham section, sensed an upset in the making and Michael Reddy might have initiated it had he kept his nerve in the 51st minute. Noureddine Naybet’s dithering allowed the former Sunderland forward to dispossess him and Reddy’s pace carried him swiftly into the 18-yard area, where he lobbed over Robinson but feebly wide of the target.

Six minutes later, Defoe demonstrated that even England-class predators are equally adept at fluffing decent openings, the Tottenham forward dragging a left-foot shot beyond the far post.

“We lacked the extra quality,” Martin Jol, the Tottenham head coach, said. “The front two need to run and exploit the space, but we didn’t do this. For me, this is my lowest point as a manager over here.”

Slade cited height advantage at set-pieces as one of his tactical ploys and it was Tottenham’s failure to clear Parkinson’s 88th-minute corner that proved their undoing. Kamudimba Kalala was lurking on the fringes of the penalty area and as the ball dropped to him, the Democratic Republic of Congo international executed a spectacular volley that fizzed past Robinson.

Goodnight Tottenham — fish-and-chip suppers all round in Cleethorpes.

GRIMSBY TOWN (4-4-2): S Mildenhall — J McDermott, J Whittle, R Jones, G Croft — G Cohen (sub: T Barwick, 82min), P Bolland, J-P Kamudimba Kalala, A Parkinson — G Jones (sub: M Gritton, 46), M Reddy. Substitutes not used: S Ramsden, T Newey, C Toner.

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR (4-4-2):

P Robinson — P Stalteri, N Naybet, L King, Lee Young Pyo — J Jenas, M Brown, M Carrick (sub: S Davis, 66), A Reid (sub: A Lennon, 60) — R Keane, J Defoe. Substitutes not used: R Cerny, S Kelly, G Bunjevcevic.

Referee: G Laws.