As Antonin Kinsky dived upon the ball in the 96th minute, most people connected with Tottenham Hotspur would have exhaled a deep breath as loudly as the Tamworth fans howled in frustration.

For had the ball gone either side of the young Czech goalkeeper then a National League side with part-time players, some working in shops, one selling zips, another a financial advisor, one a bricklayer and so on, could have beaten a Premier League side that has won the competition eight times.

Eventually though Spurs got the job done in front of their fans who had faced plenty of train problems and freezing cold weather to get there. It wasn't pretty, in fact it was mostly ugly on a skidding 3G artificial pitch that they struggled to get used to. In the end they prevented themselves from joining the list of giants killed in the FA Cup after a game which had a suffered delayed start as a couple of Tamworth players fixed an untied bit of net underneath one of the crossbars, one player sitting on the other's shoulders.

In truth those Tamworth players lifted each other throughout the contest. They were not sheep at The Lamb Ground and Ange Postecoglou went straight to his counterpart Andy Peaks after the final whistle and told him his feelings on his team.

"We were in the game for most of it and started really well. Ange just said to me I should be proud, so if he is telling me I should be proud, then why would I not be," said the Tamworth boss.

"I actually said to Ange before when he said 'how are you', I said 'I was all right until I saw your team sheet!' But, no he was respectful before and said what a great job we had done here.

"And at the end he was brilliant and said, ‘you gave us a right good run for our money, be proud of your boys, they were fantastic’, so we could have probably lost the same score or more to perhaps their Under-21s and people would gone away and thought no one would come [back]. For me, we wanted them to play those sort of players because that is what it is about really. When you draw a team like that, you want to play the best, why not?

"They brought everyone on because you’ve seen it done before where teams don’t want to use them unless they have to and he felt they had to."

Spurs certainly had to because they were struggling to find a way through without bringing the cavalry on. They made 225 successful final third passes but whenever they got the end pass right they could not get past Tamworth goalkeeper Jas Singh.

The stopper saved a couple of times from James Maddison and then Timo Werner had a header cleared off the line before the German ran through on a one-v-one from a Brennan Johnson pass only to be denied by Singh.

So poor is Werner's ability to finish now - in contrast with his early years at Leipzig - that nobody would have backed him to run through and score against a non-league goalkeeper in Singh, who spends most of his time as a building surveyor.

This was a game when even with an unnatural pitch, the Tottenham players should have shown the extra four levels between the two sides. Only some of them can actually say they did and come away with credit.

Kinsky was again a positive. He did not have much to do in terms of shots, but he had plenty to face with long throws and set pieces knocked deep into the Spurs box and his handling on the whole was excellent. Despite the difference in opposition, it will provide some preparation for Wednesday night's trip to set piece kings Arsenal.

Before Wednesday's bright debut against Liverpool, the 21-year-old goalkeeper had not played a match since mid-December due to the Czech league shutting down for the winter and this was another chance to sharpen his skills.

"It was a good challenge for him," said Postecoglou. "That's one of the unique things about Tamworth because every time they get into your half the ball gets into your box whether it's a throw-in or free-kick, that's where it ends up. You have to defend in your box. It doesn't matter how well you try to keep them away even with a throw from the halfway line.

"I thought Toni and all the lads handled it really well because it's always a bit of a lottery when it comes in, particularly with the way they launch it. It was good for Toni to get through that."

In front of Kinsky, Archie Gray got more experience as a centre-back alongside Radu Dragusin and both mostly dealt with Tamworth's aerial attacks and long balls. Gray is swiftly becoming a fans' favourite and had a special moment by himself in front of the travelling Spurs supporters as they sang his chant.

Peaks even came over and had a photo taken with the 18-year-old before asking for his shirt because he's a Leeds fan. To also endear himself to the Tamworth supporters, Gray agreed to a swap offered by one cheeky youngster - his boot for their scarf. If you don't ask you don't get and the look on the child's face said it all when the Spurs man took off his boot.

So polite is Gray that he asked a couple of times whether it was really ok to take the scarf and whether the boy's parents would mind. You could see he genuinely wanted the scarf as a memory of the day. He also ended up giving his other boot to a little girl next to the child.

Despite being just 18, Gray continues to be a go-to candidate for interviews due to his maturity and he said after the game: "I’m not going to make excuses. We were not good enough for 90 minutes, quite a few of us were not at the races today. We have all played on these pitches when we were younger, so it is not different for us."

Yves Bissouma showed his physical strength and skill in the centre of the park against the non-league side. He managed 15 ball recoveries, three blocks, one interception, two clearances and one headed clearance. He won 12 of his 15 duels on the day on the ground and in the air.

James Maddison contributed most of Spurs' best attacking moments in the first half but faded in the second half.

In contrast, after showing the understandable rust of someone who had been out for a couple of months, Mikey Moore was back to his exciting ways in the second half with quick feet that left his opponents in a twist and one chipped cross that brought a Werner header cleared off the line.

"Brilliant [to have him back], great to get him some game time," said Postecoglou of the 17-year-old. "I think he's itching to get back as well. He's missed a fair bit of football. It just adds another attacking threat to us and I'm sure after today he'll feel a lot better. As I said, I think he was a bit rusty at the start but he definitely grew into the game."

He added: "There were a couple of players like Mikey, who probably played more than I wanted him to today, but he actually grew into the game and was having a good spell when I took him off but he hasn't played for two months."

Of the five substitutes, most made an impact. Lucas Bergvall upped the tempo and his movement was tough to handle for the tiring Tamworth players.

Dominic Solanke had less joy with Spurs mostly hitting the ball long to him rather than getting it into his feet. He did help to force the visitors' opening goal when Brennan Johnson's shot was deflected across goal and bounced off the knee of Tamworth's Nathan Tshikuna and into the net.

The three extra-time arrivals fared better with Son Heung-min offering no respite for the poor Tamworth defence as he kept getting in down the left and his ball into Dejan Kulusevski was finished clinically by the Swede.

Djed Spence, playing as a centre-back, kept looking to advance. He played the sweeping pass out to Son for that second goal and then raided down the right flank before getting the ball across where it was initially cut out but Kulusevski won it back and it fell for Johnson to curl an effort inside the left-hand post.

There was a little light-hearted moment between Spence and Postecoglou after the match as they waited in a walkway to be taken back to the team coach, the full-back wearing sunglasses. The 59-year-old looked up at Spence's big furry hat that sat high up above his head and seemed fascinated by it, bursting into laughter and making comments to the 24-year-old who laughed along with him.

What would not have made Postecoglou laugh was that there were too many other starting players who struggled against players they should be flying past.

Postecoglou said on Friday that he cannot afford to let Werner go anywhere during this transfer window but this was another frustrating display lacking in conviction from the German, playing as a central striker, that showed he's going to slip down the pecking order below Moore.

The 28-year-old is a Champions League winner but often acts like someone who doesn't know that. Werner has zero confidence in his own pace to race another player to a loose ball. He surrenders meekly so often when confronted with a physical challenge. It is a stark contrast to the flying player he once was at Leipzig all those years ago before the English game chewed him up and spat him out.

Elsewhere Pedro Porro was involved in the first goal with his quick short free-kick to Johnson but he struggled up against 22-year-old Tamworth winger Emory Beck-Ray, who works in the high street clothing shop Zara as his day job.

The stats suggest the Spurs right-back touched the ball 149 times but lost it on 45 occasions. In fact in the Premier League, Porro has lost possession more times than any other player in Europe's top five leagues this season, doing so 349 times.

Part of that is the Spaniard trying more difficult passes, some of which come off, but he is also careless with the ball at times.

Brennan Johnson had a familiarly strange game in that for long periods he looked ineffective, always looking to hit an early stabbed low cross rather than try to beat his man with the pace he has.

Yet he also makes an impact in key moments, whether it was the deflected shot that led to the first goal, the pass beforehand in the second half that Werner should have scored from or his own clinical finish inside the left-hand post.

That goal meant that Johnson moved clear again as Spurs' top scorer this season with 12 goals and three assists from his 31 matches. He's contributing even when it seems he can do plenty more and that's something that elevates him above Werner, although it could rightly be pointed out that a £50million player should certainly be making an impact against a non-league team and providing more.

So of course should a 28-year-old Champions League winner. Werner and Johnson only attempted one dribble apiece despite their pace and skill. For context, the teenage Moore managed four dribbles as did Maddison.

Postecoglou said on the day in Staffordshire: "Firstly credit to Tamworth, I thought they gave everything and gave a really good account of themselves. We knew it would be a challenging afternoon for us with the surface making it really difficult for us to play in the manner we wanted to.

"It is easy to get frustrated on days like this but the lads kept their heads clear and calm and persisted and eventually overpowered them."

He added: "Why wouldn’t you [relish this occasion]? It’s the beauty of this tournament. I’m sure all at Tamworth will remember the day. As they should because their team played really well and we will remember it too because it’s a unique experience for us in terms of the kind of challenge we had today. I enjoyed it. It was a good day."

football.london asked Postecoglou whether there was some frustration that certain players like Bissouma, Porro, Johnson and Gray had to play two hours of football before facing Arsenal in midweek.

"No, no, the main thing is that we got the job done and we got through, whether it's 90 minutes or whatever it was" said the Australian. "We would have preferred to have finished it off earlier but at the end of the day we got through to the next round and that's the main thing."

As it was, Arsenal's game against Manchester United also went the distance and Saliba, Gabriel, Odegaard, Havertz and Martinelli all played the full 120 minutes before losing on penalties with Gabriel Jesus stretchered off with a knee injury earlier in the game.

Spurs did not receive a kind draw for the fourth round with a trip to Aston Villa to come in the weekend after the Carabao Cup semi-final at Liverpool to make a double-hit away from home in the cups. Villa have no midweek match that week to ensure they will be fresh.

Postecoglou's side have had to do it the hard way in the league cup in beating Manchester City and United before going a goal up in the halfway stage against Liverpool so they shouldn't fear a trip to Villa but they certainly could have received a more gentle draw.

Such is Tottenham's way though, with their ability to beat Liverpool and then struggle against non-league Tamworth, who knows what will happen that week in early February when they will have most of their currently injured players back and any new faces brought in.

At times this season, Spurs' results have not matched positive performances and on Sunday they got a positive result that does not tell the whole story of what came before it.

On paper though it is back-to-back wins for the first time in a month and back-to-back clean sheets for the first time since September. Everything leads into Wednesday night's north London derby and Postecoglou will need to get something special out of his group of players once more if they are to take anything home from a stadium that has mostly only brought pain over recent years.

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