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Andros Townsend hit a brilliant ­individual goal for Spurs as Andre Villas-Boas snubbed his French keeper Hugo Lloris yet again.

The England Under-19 star sealed Tottenham’s progress against their League One hosts with a breathtaking 50-yard dribble past four defenders.

Townsend, who has been a regular in Europe for the north Londoners, then unleashed a 25-yard left-foot drive.

The pacy star, 21, was lively all night, as Spurs dispatched battling Carlisle in front of a 13,000 sell-out at Bruton Park.

Jan Vertonghen headed Spurs into the lead after 37 minutes, to subdue a spiky home challenge that only lacked a cutting edge.

The defender, playing at left-back, nodded a back post free-kick home in scrappy fashion from a Gylfi Sigurdsson cross.

It was the big man’s first goal for Tottenham since his £12million summer switch from Ajax.

France No.1 keeper Lloris appears to not even be Villas-Boas’ reserve stopper after being left out of the team again.

That leaves the £12million signing further out in the cold, with Carlo Cudicini kept a clean sheet here and Brad Friedel securing league duties.

Spurs were dangerous from the off on the break, despite only fielding Vertonghen from their first-choice line-up and making eight changes.

New signing Clint Dempsey had their best chance of the first half, seizing the ball inside the box after teenage keeper Mark Gillespie has saved from Yago Falque.

Dempsey struck towards the open goal but defender Danny Livesey scrambled and got in a heroic block on the line.

Spanish striker Falque was the first to test eye catching Gillespie, who tipped a fine dribble and shot over.

(Image: Stu Forster)

Greg Abbott’s League One outfit cost just £60,000 to assemble compared to Spurs millionaires, and the longest serving boss in the division joked they’d be lucky to get a warm shower before jetting home.

But is was easy to see why the Cumbrians thrive under Abbott.

They showed commitment and passion to keep Spurs at bay.

Danny Cadamarteri forced Cudicini to tip over in one of Carlisle’s rare raids, before Sigurdsson completed the win in the last minute.

Spurs assistant boss Steffan Freund said: “Townsend scored a fantastic goal. He is quick and good with the ball at his feet, and just needs more belief at times. It is good to see a young player come through.

“It wasn’t easy in the first half - Carlisle played very well and we had a young team.

“With Hugo Lloris, we go from game top game. It is not right to talk about individuals.”

Relive all of the league cup action and gags as they happened and click here to find out who Spurs will play in the next round