Spurs gloom as Blackburn secure UEFA spot

Tottenham 0

The 37-year-old captain's farewell started to go wrong as early as the fifth minute, when Andy Cole set up Dwight Yorke to sweep home the opener.

It got worse on the half-hour when Gus Poyet was dismissed by referee Andy D'Urso for a disgraceful two-footed lunge on Garry Flitcroft which left the Rovers skipper with blood pouring from a knee wound.

And when Craig Hignett lashed home his first goal of the season with a 20-yard volley on the stroke of half-time, Sheringham must have known his day would end in defeat.

Damien Duff, in what could have been his final Rovers appearance before a summer departure, made it 3-0 three minutes after the interval by sweeping home a loose ball. And Duff rounded Kasey Keller to set up Cole for number four on the hour.

Blackburn boss Graeme Souness admitted his regret about losing points in crucial games and ending his side's hopes of reaching the Champions League an achievement which would have helped to keep the in-demand Duff.

The manager said: "Damien wants to play in the Champions League, which I understand because he's a top-class player. He'll get there one day and hopefully with us.

"We're in Europe but feel that, if we'd done the business against the relegated teams and Bolton, we could be in a different European competition.

"Damien's a big player and you could see what he could do today. He's a top-class player and is beginning to realise that himself. He signed a four-year contract last summer so has three years to run.

"And it would have to be a ridiculous offer to prize him away and that applies to other players as well."

Glenn Hoddle watched 10-man Tottenham's 4-0 home humiliation and then insisted he still has the recipe for success at White Hart Lane.

While Rovers celebrated their return to the UEFA Cup, courtesy of this victory and Everton's 2-1 Goodison Park defeat against champions Manchester United, Hoddle was left to reflect on one of the darkest days his increasingly-troubled two-year reign and a bleak farewell for Teddy Sheringham, who was told this week his contract would not be renewed.

Sheringham intriguingly hinted in the matchday programme that he "might see the fans again some time in some other capacity at the club".

Hoddle, asked what Sheringham was implying, added: "You'll have to ask him." Spurs fly to the USA today for a friendly against DC United in Washington and Hoddle confirmed: "Teddy's coming with us."

TOTTENHAM: Keller, Carr, Perry, King, Taricco (Ziege 61), Davies, Poyet, Redknapp (Toda 69), Etherington, Sheringham, Keane.

BLACKBURN: Friedel, Neill, Todd, Martin Taylor, McEveley (Johansson 63), Flitcroft (Dunn 45), Hignett (Jansen 76), Tugay, Duff, Cole, Yorke.

Referee: A D'Urso (Essex).