Tottenham 2 Middlesborough 0: Tottenham at last have a Premiership victory to celebrate but judgment will have to be reserved on whether this represented a significant turning point. Well as Spurs played in the second half, they will know the match changed decisively with the dismissal of Middlesbrough's Franck Queudrue just before the interval.
Spurs looked nervy and short of cohesion and ideas before the full-back was shown a straight red card that infuriated MIddlesbrough's manager Steve McClaren. The visitors had been broadly in control, even if they created little, and it had been possible to envisage Tottenham suffering a club record-equalling seventh successive league defeat.
Only the impressive Jermain Defoe, and occasionally Robbie Keane, were bright spots for them, but Tottenham were unrecognisable with their man advantage. Their passing was sharper and they should have ended with more than two goals.
McClaren, understandably, had other matters on his mind, notably Queudrue's dismissal. The way the full-back launched himself into Noe Pamarot with studs showing, catching Pamarot on the ankle, made it easy to understand why Phil Dowd showed an instant red card. But McClaren was furious.
He came down from the stand just before half-time to confront the referee, walking on to the pitch to argue his point as the officials came off. McClaren's comment that "the decision cost us the game" may well have been right. Yet his defence of Queudrue was less easy to rationalise, although McClaren intends to appeal the red card.
"It was a bad tackle," he said, "but look at the game. If there had been three or four before that, or a bit of niggle or animosity, I could understand that. But it was the easiest game to referee. There was hardly a challenge.
"It's very difficult to referee and you have to make split-second decisions, but I don't think in that instance he had to. He could have taken a step back. It was the first bad challenge of the game. It didn't warrant a red."
Spurs boss Martin Jol will trust the confidence and flow Spurs showed in the second half can be maintained. Pedro Mendes was impressive, setting up Jermain Defoe's opener and doing much to link the play.
Ledley King was a mighty presence in a Tottenham defence in which Noureddine Naybet had looked vulnerable in the first half.
Jol made life harder by pushing Timothee Atouba forward from left-back and Spurs always looked to exploit Middlesbrough's lack of width. A run by Mendes down the right - never seen before the interval - created Tottenham's opener. He got ahead of Gareth Southgate to deliver a cross which Defoe finished crisply after getting a yard on Chris Riggott.
Defoe ruined his afternoon by picking up a booking for removing his shirt in celebration. That was his fifth caution of the season and rules him out of the game against Manchester City.
Jol intends to buy at least one wide man and it was clear why. Reto Ziegler is not a natural winger and Rohan Ricketts found the going tough. Neither can deliver service Defoe might thrive on.
Tottenham's second came from another Middlesbrough error, Frederic Kanoute charging down Mark Schwarzer's clearance from a Ray Parlour backpass and seeing the ball to the net.
