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Ten-man Spurs fail to make up ground on title rivals

Martin O'Neill sparked an instant turnaround for Sunderland © PA Photos

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Ten-man Tottenham missed the chance to close the gap on the two Manchester clubs at the top of the Premier League, after eighth-placed Stoke stopped Harry Redknapp's side from stretching their unbeaten league run to 12 matches with a 2-1 victory at the Britannia Stadium.

Defeat brings an end to Spurs' marvellous run, leaving the Londoners in third spot - five points behind Manchester United in second and seven adrift of leaders Manchester City. Three points for Stoke, meanwhile, was the Potters' third win in the league on the spin and sees them climb up to eighth.

Spurs, who headed into the encounter having strung together six successive league victories for the first time since 1990, struggled to assert themselves in the early moments as Stoke, appearing full of confidence, poured forward in search of the game's opener.

It duly arrived on 13 minutes when Ryan Shotton's deflected cross was flicked on by Jon Walters to Peter Crouch. The England striker shrugged off the challenge of William Gallas and fired against the near post before Matthew Etherington arrived late on the scene to turn in.

Luka Modric went close for the visitors as they finally woke up, but Stoke survived a few scary moments to open up a two-goal lead before the break. Again it was Stoke's direct approach that undid the Spurs defence, Walters working on Shotton's long throw and Etherington supplying the scuffed finish at the back post.

Realising the game was slipping away, Redknapp replaced Assou-Ekotto and Lennon with Sebastien Bassong and Jermain Defoe at half-time, and immediately Spurs, who later had Younes Kaboul sent off after picking up two bookings, looked a different proposition. Bassong headed over and Defoe could not keep his effort down when well placed, though it was not long before their pressure told. Luka Modric was tripped by Glenn Whelan as he sauntered into the box and Emmanuel Adebayor stepped up to crash home his eighth of the season.

Stoke keeper Thomas Sorensen was a busy man in the closing stages but Tony Pulis' side held on to bring Spurs' first defeat in 12 games - denying Redknapp's men their best unbeaten run in the league since 1984/85.

A 93rd-minute free-kick from Sebastian Larsson broke Blackburn's hearts and ensured Martin O'Neill got off to a winning start as Sunderland manager. The Black Cats trailed to Simon Vukcevic's early goal for most of the match, before two late strikes turned the game on its head.

Sunderland looked lively in the first 20 minutes, but it was Rovers who moved ahead: Chris Samba's low shot across goal was palmed into the path of Vukcevic, who nodded in from six yards. O'Neill's charges responded well to the setback, and should have been level almost immediately - but Kieran Richardson, put clean through by Jason Lowe's error, was denied by a fabulous save from Paul Robinson.

Blackburn were willing to concede ground throughout the second half, sensing that Sunderland did not possess the creativity to find a hurtful pass. For 83 minutes, Steve Kean's tactics were justified: a long-range strike from Richardson that stung Robinson's palms was as close as the hosts came to an equaliser.

But then, just when it seemed O'Neill was going to begin with a loss, David Vaughan's half-volley from outside the area flew past Robinson, whose sight was obstructed by a posse of defenders in front of him. The Black Cats looked a different proposition after pulling level, shuttling the ball across the pitch at a higher tempo - and they made their pressure tell with Larsson's late effort, which went in off the near post.

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