Birmingham 1 Tottenham 0
Birmingham's record signing David Dunn enjoyed a dream debut as Steve Bruce's men got their Premiership campaign off to a flyer at St Andrews.
Dunn joined the Blues for stg£5.5million from Blackburn this summer and took just 35 minutes to make a great impression with the home supporters.
He volunteered for the spot-kick after Anthony Gardner had hauled down Robbie Savage and blasted it to the left of Tottenham goalkeeper Kasey Keller.
Bruce is adamant his side must build on last season's surprising 13th place finish and their display in the sunshine augured well.
But Spurs stormed back in the second half with Robbie Keane and substitute Bobby Zamora each inches away from grabbing an equaliser.
Birmingham had dominated the first period and might have made earlier inroads if Geoff Horsfield had not been hauled back in the fourth minute for a marginal offside.
While Dunn was settling in easily the same could not be said of Spurs' big summer signing Helder Postiga, whose first touch was a dreadful piece of mis-control and who was eventually withdrawn early in the second half.
Dugarry fired a long-range ninth-minute free-kick straight straight at Keller and came even closer seven minutes later when he stretched to meet Jamie Clapham's free-kick in the box but poked the ball against the post.
Savage blazed the rebound wide from long range and Spurs broke with their 20-year-old debutant Rohan Ricketts skewing a hopeful effort wide of target.
Birmingham were unfortunate not to create another scoring chance in the 22nd minute when Savage intercepted Jamie Redknapp on the halfway line and sent Horsfield racing towards goal.
But referee Rob Styles had seen an infringement and blew up for a free-kick against the Blues, much to the anger of the vocal home fans.
Savage was as usual at the centre of things, incurring a yellow card for a rash challenge on Mauricio Taricco then coming up with a delightful lob to set Horsfield clear.
The big striker turned Gardner brilliantly but shot wide of Keller's right-hand post.
And Dugarry came close on the half hour when Keller rashly raced from his box to meet a punt up field and the Frenchman got in first and should have done better with his attempted chip.
Birmingham grabbed their deserved lead and should have made it two on the stroke of half-time when Dugarry turned Doherty but poked a poor left-foot shot straight at Keller.
Dugarry came close again early in the second half before Hoddle's introduction of Zamora began to swing the match in the Londoners' favour.
Zamora was a key figure in the Spurs pressure which Keane ought to have marked in the 56th minute.
He burst through the Blues defence onto Goran Bunjevcevic's through-ball and fired a shot which beat Maik Taylor but hit the foot of the post and rebounded into the goalkeeper's arms.
Moments after his miss Zamora was only inches away with a close-range header, then he poked a low shot goalwards only to see it blocked by Kenny Cunningham.
Taylor denied substitute Dean Marney an equaliser with a fine save as the minutes ticked by, and Zamora came agonisingly close with an injury-time header from Stephen Carr's right-wing cross.