Harry Redknapp celebrated his return to Fratton Park with a win that kept old club Portsmouth bottom of the table.

The home fans' reception for Redknapp was in reality mild, but the opening exchanges were highly charged.

Ledley King headed Spurs ahead from a Niko Kranjcar corner before Jermain Defoe volleyed in their second.

Kevin-Prince Boateng pulled one back moments before Defoe saw red for stamping, but Spurs held on and Pompey had Michael Brown sent off at the end.

Aruna Dindane had a golden first-half opportunity to put Pompey ahead but ballooned over an open goal inside the six-yard box.

Both match-day squads featured three players who had played for the opposition in recent times, Defoe, Kranjcar and substitute Peter Crouch for Spurs, and Brown, Boateng and Younes Kaboul for Portsmouth.

Striker Defoe, fit after missing England's final World Cup qualifiers, was in the thick of the action from the outset.

He was spoken to by referee Phil Dowd in the first few seconds after a heated exchange of views with former Spurs player Brown.

The lively Defoe then burst through but England keeper David James saved his low shot comfortably.

He was in on goal again after a neat through ball from Tom Huddlestone, but the fierce low drive came back off the post with James beaten.

Portsmouth, with only one league win so far and unsettled by recent changes of ownership, showed plenty of endeavour, with the spirited Boateng at the heart of most of their attacks.

Dindane is likely to see his glaring miss repeated several times on calamity-based football compilations, while Spurs keeper Heurelho Gomes, who has endured some calamities of his own, produced some magical saves, most notably an acrobatic one-handed tip over while diving in the opposite direction after Boateng's free-kick was sharply deflected.

But Spurs, always with extra quality in key areas, went ahead midway through the first-half courtesy of the influential King, returning to the side for the first time since 20 September following hamstring trouble.

The visitors forced several right-wing corners, and King rose to meet Kranjcar's cross with James in no-man's land.

Then on the stroke of half-time Jermaine Jenas exchanged neat passes with Huddlestone and sent over an inviting cross for Defoe to slide in his sixth league goal of the season.

But that comfortable cushion soon began to deflate as Boateng was rewarded for his perseverance with a superb first-time shot from the left-hand edge of the area that beat Gomes and whistled into the corner of the net.

And Spurs were reduced to 10 men on the hour when the petulant side of Defoe returned and he was given a straight red card for a petty stamp on Aaron Mokoena.

Wilson Palacios, who only arrived at the ground 15 minutes before the teams had to be announced, having had extended international duty to celebrate Honduras reaching the World Cup finals, was brought on in an attempt to shore things up.

But again it was Gomes who saved Spurs, springing to his right to keep out Hassan Yebda's powerful volley.

Still the chances came for Portsmouth, Fredric Piquionne unchallenged as he headed agonisingly close across the face of goal, Gomes tipping away Tommy Smith's lob and the hapless Dindane side-footing wide from six

However, Aaron Lennon could have scored a third for Spurs when he burst through in typically rapid fashion only for his shot to be smothered.

In the final moments, Brown was sent off for a second yellow card as Portsmouth were left to reflect on a fifth home defeat.

Spurs manager Harry Redknapp:

"It all went well, we got the result and it was a good day.

"The crowd were fantastic, they are good people. The press over-hyped it but the crowd couldn't have been better.

"Portsmouth played well and we were hanging on at the end, it was backs to the wall stuff. When Defoe scored it looked like game over but it was a tough second half.

"I'm very disappointed in Defoe's reaction. I said to him at half-time: 'don't retaliate if you get fouled.'

"We'll be there or thereabouts but I think Portsmouth will stay up, there's enough spirit and they'll turn the corner."