JOE Jordan says Tottenham’s inability to score from the spot this season was the reason they failed to book their place in the sixth round of the FA Cup yesterday.

Tom Huddlestone became the latest Spurs player to miss from 12 yards in an enthralling tie at the Reebok Stadium.

The midfielder saw his weak spot kick saved by Jussi Jaaskelainen with the game locked at 1-1 — the fourth penalty the north Londoners have failed to convert this season.

And Jordan, the Tottenham assistant manager, was less than impressed.

“Tom does it differently in training when he puts power into his penalties, but he tried to place it,” he said.

“But when a penalty is saved you have to give credit to the keeper.

“We’ve had a terrible season with penalties that have counted against us.

“At Everton we were 2-0 up and it got back to 2-2 and we missed a penalty — and there have been other occasions as well.

“We need a bit more practice.”

But Jordan felt the visitors had done enough to book their place in the last eight of the cup after coming from behind at the Reebok.

He added: “We lived dangerously in the first 45 minutes when we didn’t play particularly well — but it was different in the second half and we should have been going away with a victory.

“There is no question of that but in the first half we just weren’t good enough. Other than the penalty, there were other chances where we should have scored.

“We certainly didn’t play in the first half but if you were a neutral you would have enjoyed the game.

“Bolton’s style of play caused us problems in the first 25 to 30 minutes of what was an open game. That could have resulted in a second goal and we wouldn’t have any complaints. Once Bolton scored we got some continuity into our play but it wasn’t until the second half that we dominated the game.”