Tottenham Hotspur...4 Everton...3Glenn Hoddle remains desperate to buy another striker for Tottenham, but the pressure on the hunt was eased yesterday when Robbie Keane scored a sublime hat-trick to ease the manager's growing woes and remind him of the quality already at his disposal.

Who needs Fernando Morientes? Keane's goals ensured that Tottenham edged a thrilling match and provided welcome relief after three successive defeats. With Real Madrid's Morientes having spurned Hoddle's advances and Michael Ricketts of Bolton seemingly out of financial reach, the victory and Keane's excellence provided a much-needed boost.

While the defending from both sides was hapless, Keane's finishing was exquisite. His first involved rounding Everton's goalkeeper Espen Baardsen after sweetly controlling Darren Anderton's pass. The second was a fine strike from outside the area and the third a skip past Joseph Yobo, then a dink over the advancing 'keeper.

"It was a magnificent hat-trick of the highest quality," said Hoddle. "Robbie was fantastic and it's been waiting to happen. He's had a lot of chances recently, but today he was clinical. We are trying to improve the squad in several ways and Robbie is carrying the burden on his shoulders at the moment."

A signing would also relieve Hoddle. He has had to deal with alleged rifts, a spat with Tim Sherwood, who has threatened to sue Spurs for discriminating against him by not playing him in the Premiership, and a sticky run of results including last week's FA Cup humiliation at Southampton.

Everton were also hoping to bounce back after their defeat at Shrewsbury and David Moyes was appalled at the lapses which cost his side. He described it as the worst defensive display since his arrival at the club, but at least took some heart from the performance.

"It was a marked improvement from last week's game but we paid the price for our poor defending," he said.

Everton were superior in the first half and took the lead after nine minutes when Scot Gemmill's pass found Brian McBride, the American striker who is on a three-month loan from Columbus Crew and who was playing only because of Wayne Rooney's suspension. Despite

not having

played a

competitive game since October McBride finished well past Kasey Keller.

Tottenham's equaliser was entirely preventable. Alan Stubbs tried to cushion a header back to Baardsen, but succeeded only in forcing the 'keeper to scramble across goal and turn it round the post. Spurs scored from the resulting corner.

Stubbs's headed clearance reached Simon Davies on the edge of the area and his header was propelled onwards by Gus Poyet and into the top corner.

Tottenham created little else in the first half, but went ahead through Keane after 50 minutes. The lead could have been doubled but Baardsen, called up after Richard Wright injured a knee in the warm-up, palmed Davies's shot round a post. Then Everton responded, Steve Watson punishing poor defending by Steffen Iversen and Stephen Carr.

After 67 minutes, more sloppiness let Spurs regain the lead when Keane slipped away from Yobo to score his second after the Nigerian dived in as the striker went to collect the ball. The lead lasted five minutes, Tomasz Radzinski latching on to McBride's pass to equalise.

There was one final twist, allowing Keane to complete his hat-trick. Stubbs misjudged Gary Doherty's header, the ball bounced over his jump and Keane did the rest.

Tottenham have arrested their decline and, Hoddle hopes, ended talk of a lack of team spirit.

"We have shown that we can fight, we can run, we can play and we can score," said Poyet.

Keane, at least, can relate to that.

TOTTENHAM: Keller, Perry, Doherty, King, Carr, Davies, Poyet, Anderton,

Bunjevcevic, Iversen

(Acimovic 80), Keane. Subs Not Used: Sullivan, Taricco, Blondel, Gardner. Booked: Doherty. Goals: Poyet 14, Keane 50, 68, 83.

EVERTON: Baardsen, Yobo (Carsley 86), Pistone, Stubbs, Unsworth, Tie Li (Osman 90), Gemmill, Naysmith, Watson, Radzinski, McBride. Subs Not Used: Alexandersson, Pembridge, Said. Booked: Gemmill. Goals: McBride 10, Watson 58, Radzinski 74.

Refereee:

S Dunn (Avon).