Jermain Defoe's controversial penalty fired Spurs to a narrow
win to lift the hosts out of the bottom four and send Portsmouth to
a second straight loss.
Referee Chris Foy was the villain of the piece, penalising Pedro
Mendes, despite Didier Zokora's blatant dive.
It proved to be the winner, adding to Danny Murphy's 39th-second
tap-in.
It was harsh reward for Pompey, who deserved more from a resilient
display in a match that got off to a flying start.
Final Score - Tottenham 2-1 Portsmouth
Tottenham manager Martin Jol
"Seeing Mendes' challenge on Didier now and I must be honest, there
was no contact.
"I think Didier was anticipating Mendes' tackle and maybe lost his
balance. But I don't think he did it on purpose. We don't want that
sort of thing but I think this was something different.
"As for the game, I felt we deserved to win. They scored a soft
goal from our point of view and then Paul made a great save at the
end, but on the balance of chances we deserved it."
Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp
"We started sloppily and conceded an early goal but then came the
second and, everyone who has seen it will agree, it was
farcical.
"I've looked round in the dug-out and within 10 seconds I've seen
the replay and you can see Pedro was nowhere near him. So if I've
seen it, why can't the fourth official?
"Now's the time to do something. These are important games and it
is not enough to say that these things even themselves out over a
season. We need a solution and the technology is there - so why not
use it."
