Tottenham 0 Stoke 1:Glenn Whelan has spent much of this season hoping his international form will catapult him back into the starting line-up at Stoke City, but if anything will do that it will contributions like he made at White Hart Lane after coming off the bench against Tottenham.

After 57 minutes with no breakthrough by either side, the midfielder replaced Rory Delap - one of those he could be seen to be keeping out of Giovanni Trapattoni’s squads – and popped up with the winner with four minutes of normal time remaining.

Like his strike against world champions Italy earlier in the month, it was another supremely executed effort that owed a lot to the determination of Ricardo Fuller, who chased the ball into the corner and found the Dubliner arriving on the edge of box.

Whelan despatched the ball into the top corner to send the visiting fans wild and the emphatic finish would have brought a smile to face of Trapattoni, who left early after joining England manager Fabio Capello to cast an eye over a few of his international charges.

Trapattoni perhaps left after Ireland captain Robbie Keane was called ashore by Harry Redknapp. His had not been a memorable afternoon as he made little impact before making way for Roman Pavluchenko shortly after the hour mark.

James Beattie’s acrobatic clearance on the line ensured Stoke went into half-time level.

Peter Crouch thought he had scored the opener when his header looped over Steve Simonsen - a late replacement for Thomas Sorensen - but Beattie hooked the ball clear from an improbable angle.

Niko Kranjcar also struck the post for the hosts, while Aaron Lennon forced Simonsen into another save when he checked inside Andy Wilkinson and curled an effort that would have found the top corner.

Keane forced a save from Simonsen early in the second half but was replaced soon afterwards.

The turning point came when Lennon headed down the tunnel after injuring his ankle, although he had to explain more than once to the bench that he could not carry on. Spurs played the rest of the game with 10 men.

The winner came eight minutes later Fuller proved to strong for Benoit Assou-Ekotto and found Whelan, who did the rest with aplomb.

Spurs and Kranjcar thought they should have won a penalty in stoppage-time but their hopeful claims were waved away.