1-0 v Blackburn Rovers - 2 February 2011 - Away

Peter Crouch's early header secured Tottenham's first win in five matches as they edged out Blackburn and kept the pressure on the top four. Crouch nodded home Rafael van der Vaart's cross in the third minute, and the visitors defended their lead well. Heurelho Gomes made smart stops from Junior Hoilett and Mame Biram Diouf as Rovers rallied after the break. Jermain Defoe then fired straight at Paul Robinson before Christopher Samba missed a late chance to rescue a point.

Tottenham's fifth clean sheet of the season, and the first achieved without key centre-back Michael Dawson, keeps them three points behind Chelsea in the race for a Champions League spot.

The visitors were nowhere near their buccaneering best and were indebted to Gomes for a string of saves in the second half, but manager Harry Redknapp will be delighted with the gritty display from a side missing several of its best players. It was also the perfect response to the north Londoners' humiliating 4-0 FA Cup defeat by Fulham three days earlier, which had threatened to send Tottenham's hugely promising season off the rails.

Much had been made of Spurs' burgeoning treatment table before the match, with Redknapp naming two goalkeepers on the bench, but it was one of the beneficiaries of Tottenham's injury problems who opened the scoring. Only three minutes were on the clock when Crouch, recalled to the starting line-up, rose above Samba and directed Van der Vaart's pinpoint cross past Robinson to score his second Premier League goal of the season. The gangly hitman's other strike was also against Blackburn back in November, and added to the double he scored at Ewood Park in Tottenham's victory there last season.

Rovers responded well to falling behind with the pacy Hoilett twice going close, first having a shot blocked by Vedran Corluka and then seeing Gomes tip his effort wide. The visitors withstood the burst of pressure, and the half soon descended into a scrappy affair as Spurs showed little inclination to add to their lead and Rovers, while enjoying plenty of possession, failed to trouble Gomes. The closest they came was a fizzing David Dunn drive that flew narrowly wide and Ryan Nelsen's attempt to convert a Dunn free-kick, also off target.

The home side fashioned a better opportunity just after the restart, Diouf beating the offside trap and forcing a good stop from Gomes. But the chance failed to herald an increase in the tempo of the match, which ambled along uneventfully until it was momentarily ignited by two fine pieces of play from Aaron Lennon.

The Tottenham winger made a surging 60-yard run from just outside his own box to the edge of Blackburn's area, where he slid the ball to Defoe whose effort was charged down well by Robinson. Lennon then created a chance for himself, cutting inside from the left before unleashing a fierce right-footed strike that ex-Tottenham keeper Robinson did well to tip over. It sparked Rovers belatedly into life, with Gomes called into action three times in a five-minute Blackburn bombardment.

The Brazilian keeper first turned Hoilett's 20-yard strike wide with a fingertip save, then made an even better stop to deny Diouf from 12 yards, before standing firm to beat away a Morten Gamst Pedersen free-kick. Spurs then appeared to be closing out the match comfortably until injury time when Samba's goalbound header from Hoilett's cross was diverted just over the bar by a vital touch from Jermaine Jenas. And there was still time for Keith Andrews to fire an effort straight at Gomes as Spurs clung on for a scrappy but significant victory.