How do I get a span *inside* an anchor using CI anchor ?

[eluser]vincej[/eluser]
Hi - I am trying to use a particular CSS technique and the tutorial requires that you place a span inside an <a> anchor - easy when using HTML, but not so obvious when using CI. Example:

Code:

<ul>
   <li><a href="#">Buy Widgets <span></span></a></li>
   <li><a href="#">About Widget Corp <span></span></a></li>
   <li><a href="#">Contact Us <span></span></a></li>
  
</ul>

when I attempt to do it with CI the span falls either outside the anchor or if you follow the user guide placing the span inside the CI anchor,like this

Code:

echo anchor("welcome/cat/$topkey", $toplist['name'],"<span></span>");

then the span shows up in front of the label and one of the chevrons shows up on the page.

I have tried various combinations of double and single quotes.

Many Many thanks for any advice !