Bolton strike late as Spurs falter

TWO GOALS in the dying minutes of an extraordinary second half gave Bolton their sixth successive victory as Martin Jol’s Spurs self destructed.

Tal Ben Haim and Kevin Davies struck the goals to inflict more misery on a Tottenham side reduced to 10 men midway through the second period when Fredi Kanoute was given his marching orders for two bookable offences.

In many respects, Kanoute stole El-Hadji Diouf's thunder as the Bolton striker for once was not the guilty party on what was another controversial Premiership night.

Diouf was in the spotlight just eight days ago when he blatantly dived to win a spot-kick he eventually converted to give Bolton a contentious 1-0 victory at Blackburn.

The luck that fell the way of Sam Allardyce's side on that occasion seemed to follow them to the Reebok when they were again awarded a debatable penalty.

After a sterile first half, the second period exploded into life just two minutes in when referee Mike Dean pointed to the spot for what appeared to be an Erik Edman handball.

The decision sparked furious protests from Spurs. After the furore had subsided, up stepped a composed Diouf to send Tottenham goalkeeper Paul Robinson the wrong way.

Spurs appeared to be appeased when England international Jermain Defoe, surprisingly on the bench at the start, scored within two minutes of his arrival in the 65th minute.

But two minutes later Kanoute was given a second yellow card, and subsequent red for a challenge on Anthony Barness, kicking over a crate of drinks on his way to the tunnel.

His dismissal ultimately led to Spurs downfall as they then capitulated in the closing stages, with Ben Haim first heading home a Stelios Giannakopoulos corner for 2-1 in the 86th minute.

With Tottenham going in search of the equaliser, they were brilliantly caught on the counter two minutes later, with Diouf playing a superb, curling pass into Davies to rifle a first-time shot from 10 yards beyond Robinson.

It was all in total contrast to the first period, minutes before which Bolton unveiled new signing Vincent Candela to the Wanderers fans. Signed on loan until the end of the season after nine years with Roma, Candela watched a dour struggle between two teams who still have European aspirations.

Jol went on a signing spree during last month's transfer window, bringing in seven new faces in an attempt to lift his side into the top six at least, but that is now fading on the back of one win from their last six games.

But only two of those players Egypt international striker Mido and Czech goalkeeper Radek Cerny were involved, and both were on the bench as Jol made just one change to a team held to a 1-1 FA Cup fourth-round draw at West Brom on Saturday.

BOLTON: Jaaskelainen, Barness (Fadiga 77), N'Gotty, Ben Haim, Gardner, Nolan, Campo, Speed, Diouf, Davies (Pedersen 90), Giannakopoulos (Hierro 88).

TOTTENHAM: Robinson, Kelly, King, Gardner, Edman (Defoe 63), Davies, Carrick, Brown, Atouba, Keane, Kanoute.

Ref: M Dean (Wirral).