Tottenham 3 Wigan 1:Harry Redknapp's defence of the FA Cup he won with Portsmouth last season started with a third-round victory for Tottenham against Wigan at White Hart Lane.

Victory against Steve Bruce's men came courtesy of two goals from knockout specialist Roman Pavlyuchenko, who has also scored in every round of the Carling Cup, and Luka Modric's diving header.

Wigan, who have never beaten Spurs, had cause to complain about Modric's effort as Maynor Figueroa was injured in the build-up before the Spurs playmaker scored his third in five appearances.

Henri Camara pulled a goal back for the visitors with three minutes left to give them brief hope but the hosts avoided the replay they were dreading that would stretch their thin squad.

There was less than a minute on the clock when Spurs fans started singing the name of Jermain Defoe, who has been linked with a return to the club after being sold to Portsmouth just under a year ago.

The first chance of the match fell to Camara after he met an Antonio Valencia cross following a quick free-kick — but his header went just wide.

Modric had the first effort for the hosts, exchanging passes with Pavlyuchenko then firing the wrong side of the post.

Richard Kingson was making his debut in the Latics net and he had to be watchful when Gareth Bale swung a free-kick just over his crossbar.

Kingson was left stranded when David Bentley's cross was met by Kevin Kilbane — but the defender's clearance went wide to the relief of the visitors.

Redknapp was forced into a change in the 28th minute as Darren Bent suffered a knock, with Fraizer Campbell coming on — and he almost got on the end of a Bentley cross with his first touch.

Heurelho Gomes was called into action after Daniel de Ridder earned a free-kick and curled the set-piece on target. With Wigan players loitering, Gomes' handling had to be spot-on to prevent an opener.

Modric forced Kingson into a low save just before the half-time whistle and Bentley also fired a 30-yard drive into the side-netting.

Spurs took the lead seven minutes into the second half after Campbell raced through and took the ball around Kingson before feeling a touch from the goalkeeper and going down.

Pavlyuchenko took the spot-kick and sent Kingson the wrong way, his eighth of the season after arriving from Spartak Moscow.

Campbell could have added another himself when he met Pavlyuchenko's cross with a firm header — but Kingson flew to his right to claw the effort away.

Camara thought he had sight of an equaliser when he took advantage of a Michael Dawson mistake to go clean through, only for Jonathan Woodgate to dash back and make a last-ditch tackle.

Pavlyuchenko then saw his effort bounce over the crossbar after he beat the offside trap and lobbed Kingson.

Redknapp apologised to Bruce after Spurs' second goal as substitute Figueroa was down injured after a kick in the face from Dawson.

Gomes started the move with a long throw but then yelled to team-mates to put the ball into touch — but play carried on and the ball was worked to O'Hara.

O'Hara's shot came off the post and Modric, who was losing his footing, stumbled into a diving header to place the ball into the empty net.

Wigan were given hope when the ball ricocheted to Camara and he tucked his finish away from close range — but Pavlyuchenko added the third in stoppage time with a long-range drive.