'To dare is to do' is the proud club motto of Tottenham Hotspur.
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Whilst ultimately the four-times League Cup winners had the last laugh here against Doncaster Rovers in this third round tie, winning 3-0, it was the League One side who fully embraced the Latin-translated maxim of the Londoners.
After conceding twice in the space of 15 first half minutes, many teams in Rovers' position could have wilted. But they stuck to their task and after calming things down they took it to the Premier League giants in manageable bursts.
It was a ferocious start to this cup tie with both sides coming close inside the opening two minutes. First, Rovers saw Joe Sbarra and Glenn Middleton unleash close-range shots that were both charged down before Spurs countered quickly down the other end as Mathys Tel missed a gilt-edged chance from close range. The former Bayern Munich man inexplicably missed a teasing centre that was laid on a plate.
Rovers 'keeper Ian Lawlor then applied a vital paw to a teasing centre that saw the ball just evade the head of Tel not long after as Spurs ramped up the ante. Sadly for the visitors and the near-4,000 travelling contingent, it wasn't long before the hosts were indeed celebrating going in front.
That it would be Joao Palhinha who scored the goal might have come as the biggest surprise, given the amount of attacking talent Spurs had on the pitch. After all the enforcing midfielder was operating as a makeshift centre-half. But he produced a speculative, overhead kick to open the scoring after a poor punch from Ian Lawlor and a timid header off the line from Sean Grehan. Within three minutes the lead had doubled: Wilson Odobert terrorised Tom Nixon down the left flank and his centre was put through his own net by the unfortunate Jay McGrath.
Owen Bailey's speculative volley was brilliantly tipped on to a post by Spurs' under-worked goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky as Grant McCann's side ended the first half strongly. The same player registered the first shot on target after the restart too, although Kinsky had less to do with a straightforward volley for the second attempt.
The second half saw Rovers assert themselves more with Spurs partly content to hold their two-goal buffer. Rovers were braver, asked more questions and fashioned the odd breakaway. After one such attack was halted on the edge of the box, Middleton came close with a free-kick as his vicious effort kissed the side-netting of Kinsky's goal.
There were, as was to be expected, chances for Spurs to extend their lead and with the last kick of the game Brennan Johnson rubbed salt in the wounds with a third from a super-quick breakaway.
Rovers were never going to have their season defined by this result but the manner of their performance - gutsy and spirited - can offer plenty of encouragement for the months ahead.
Rovers: Lawlor, Nixon, Grehan, McGrath, Senior, Close, Bailey, Sbarra, Middleton, Olusanya, Ajayi
Substitutes: Molyneux for Ajayi 61, Hanlan for Olusanya 61, Gotts for Close 75, Gibson for Middleton 75, Crew for Sbarra 75.