0-2 v Aston Villa - 11 November 2000 - Away

Ian Taylor piled on the agony for Spurs boss George Graham with a brace to lead Villa to a 2-0 win at Villa Park.

The ever-reliable Taylor found the net either side of half-time to boost Villa's push for a top four finish and send Spurs back to London nursing another painful defeat.

It was ironic that the day when Villa fans chose to protest, John Gregory's side put on a flawless performance.

Before the game, over 10,000 fans had congregated outside Villa Park to vent their frustration at Doug Ellis and his board's refusal to back Gregory's pursuit for new players.

Villa were outstanding, with Merson pulling all the strings in midfield, and the lively Stone providing Villa with plenty of ammunition from the right hand side.

Their first real opportunity fell to Dion Dublin after nine minutes when Joachim wriggled free down the right hand side of the area.

The tiny forward, who could tell Doug Ellis a thing or two about dealing with unhappy fans, pulled the ball back for his out-of-sorts strike partner but Dublin's shot deflected wide for a corner.

Spurs' retaliated with a rare and unsuccessful venture into enemy territory.

Sergei Rebrov slotted the ball into the path of Darren Anderton, who unleashed a rasping drive which David James did well to hold.

Both sides were playing with ten men for over 12 minutes after a clash between former England colleagues Les Ferdinand and Gareth Southgate - Southgate was eventually forced off and replaced by Mark Delaney.

Villa were looking the brighter of the two sides but it was a hopeless clearance from Ramon Vega which nearly provided them with the breakthrough when he sent Dublin clean through after 15 minutes. However, the Swiss centre-half recovered well to prevent Dublin from giving Villa the advantage.

Spurs were doing their best to weather the attacks but as the onslaught continued it was almost inevitable that Villa would eventually find their way past the shaky Spurs rearguard.

The goal arrived after 22 minutes when and it was Taylor who delivered the telling blow.

Alan Wright swung in a cross from the left and Taylor charged in to steer a looping header over Sullivan. It was his third goal of the campaign and it was richly deserved by the home side.

If Spurs thought Villa's onslaught was just a bad spell then they couldn't have been more wrong. The gentle shower of shots soon turned into a full-blown storm.

First George Boateng skipped past two defenders before teeing up the inspirational Merson for a 20-yard piledriver.

Then Wright arrowed a free-kick straight at Neil Sullivan but Vega came to the rescue of Spurs with a timely clearance.

Indeed, it must have seemed like a training session for Sullivan who did well to keep the score down.

Villa's slender advantage at half-time was scant reward for 45 minutes of constant pressure. Spurs had more urgency about them in the second half but allowed Dublin to steal in after 50 minutes but he headed over with the goal at his mercy.

He made amends minutes later with a clever little flick after 52 minutes allowing Taylor to stroke the ball beyond Sullivan, giving Villa a two-goal cushion.

Former Spurs' hero David Ginola entered the fray with five minutes remaining.

And the Villa star must have afforded a wry smile at full time as his former boss went home pondering his future after watching Spurs' six successive away defeat.