Souness backs Harper after keeper’s White Hart Pain

Tottenham 1 Newcastle 0

Harper was played into trouble by defender Celestine Babayaro shortly before half- time, but his poor clearance rebounded off Simon Davies to Jermain Defoe, who beat Harper for the only goal of the match.

But Souness refused to blame Harper - who was only playing because of a hip injury to Shay Given.

“To concede the goal when we did was disappointing, but we can’t be too hard on Steve Harper,” said Souness.

“He plays so few games, and he had to come into the side today and pick up the pace of the match and adapt to everything else associated with Premiership football.

“Reserve football does not prepare you for a test like that. But Steve is a big boy and will deal with it.”

Tottenham goalkeeper, Paul Robinson, made a similar error early in the second period when he tried to play a short pass to Anthony Gardner, who did not expect to receive the ball.

Substitute James Milner - a half-time replacement for the injured Alan Shearer - seized the loose ball but failed to hit the target with a 25-yard chip.

Souness said: “It was a game about two goalkeepers who made one mistake apiece.

“We were punished for ours; they got away with theirs. It was not a good game of football. After our efforts in beating Sporting Lisbon on Thursday, we were never going to chase it.

“We thought we weathered the first half storm and it looked like we were going to get to half-time with the match at 0-0 - but then they scored.”

Tottenham chief Martin Jol was cautious about his team’s prospects of earning a place in next season’s UEFA Cup following this triumph.

Spurs are now seventh, which should gain a European spot should Arsenal and Manchester United meet in the FA Cup final.

He said: “Europe is still on everybody’s minds. But we still have to play at Liverpool and Arsenal.

“If we get 12 or 13 points from the home games, we are in with a chance of qualifying for Europe.”

TOTTENHAM: Robinson, Kelly, Gardner, King, Reid, Davies (Ziegler 84), Carrick, Edman, Brown (Davis 55), Kanoute, Defoe (Keane 78).

NEWCASTLE: Harper, Carr, O’Brien, Boumsong, Babayaro, Faye, Jenas, Butt (Ambrose 62), Robert (N’Zogbia 62), Shearer (Milner 45), Ameobi.

Referee: S Bennett (Kent).