0-1 v Stoke City - 24 October 2009 - Home

Glenn Whelan struck late to earn Stoke victory over Spurs, who will ruefully look back at missed chances.

Aaron Lennon's curling shot was well kept out by Steve Simonsen, while Peter Crouch's header was acrobatically cleared off the line by James Beattie.

Niko Kranjcar's drive hit the foot of the post as Spurs pressed.

But Spurs, hit by an early injury to Jonathan Woodgate and a late one to Lennon, were stunned when Whelan smashed in an angled shot to win it.

England winger Lennon was forced off with 10 minutes to play, leaving Spurs to finish the match with 10 men as they had already used all their substitutes.

And as Tottenham were stretched, Stoke took advantage to pull off a smash and grab they barely deserved.

The match marked the first anniversary of Harry Redknapp taking over as Spurs boss, and there is no doubt he has transformed the club.

A year on from his appointment, Redknapp has taken the Londoners from relegation candidates to a side that would go top of the table with victory against Stoke.

It should have been extra incentive for Tottenham to turn on the style against opposition who had won only one of their last five Premier League matches.

But instead, they failed to make the most of their greater possession and territory and got hit with a sucker punch.

They will also be frustrated by the injury to Woodgate, who managed only a 13-minute cameo in his first start of the season.

There was brilliance when he headed away a dangerous cross to prevent Stoke taking the lead, but it was shortly followed by the all-too familiar sight of him leaving the field injured, this time to be replaced by Michael Dawson.

Stoke had suffered their own misfortune when goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen was taken ill during the warm-up, meaning Simonsen was promoted from the bench.

He was called into action very early on when he tipped away Lennon's cross intended for Crouch.

And Simonsen was also equal to Kranjcar's shot from distance, but he later needed a hooked goal-line clearance from Beattie to prevent Crouch scoring with a header.

Moments later, Crouch's clever flick set up Kranjcar and his first time 20-yard drive cannoned back off the foot of the post.

Stoke were inviting Spurs on by leaving space to exploit, and the visitors were also impotent as an attacking force, reduced to relying on ineffective long throws from Rory Delap.

However, once Stoke tightened up and began to press the ball, Tottenham could not find the invention to make chances.

But the hosts did look the more threatening side and they came close to taking the lead when Robbie Keane shot on the turn, forcing a smart stop from Simonsen, and Dean Whitehead cleared as Crouch sprinted in.

Crouch - out to impress England boss Fabio Capello, who was watching in the stands - was next to be thwarted by Simonsen, who did well to keep out the striker's header.

Vedran Corluka's weak follow-up was easily smothered by the increasingly busy Simonsen.

Spurs brought on Roman Pavlyuchenko for Keane, who had not been at his best, in an effort to penetrate the Stoke defence.

The obvious way in, with two strikers over six feet tall, would have been via the air, but crosses were oddly at a premium.

Stoke, perhaps buoyed by their successful resistance, opted to change their attack too. On came Tuncay for Beattie.

Little changed as Stoke sat deep and Spurs toiled to create.

But when Lennon was forced off injured, Stoke sensed their chance to make their extra man count.

And they took it quite brilliantly when Ricardo Fuller cut the ball back to substitute Whelan and he smashed the ball into the corner.

Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp on injured Aaron Lennon walking off with 14 minutes left: "I hoped he could stay on but he couldn't. I told him we'd only have 10 men and could he play on, but he said his ankle was too sore.

"I don't want to cause an issue. It's not about England - he's got big games coming up for Tottenham."