Defoe compounds Spurs' misery as Pompey win

Portsmouth 2 Tottenham 0

Jermain Defoe scored a first-half penalty against former club Tottenham before Peter Crouch added a second to leave Juande Ramos’ hapless side rooted to the bottom of the Premier League.

After gaining just two points from the first six matches Ramos was subjected to chants of “You don’t know what you are doing” from fans after he took 73 minutes to send on top-scorer Darren Bent for lone striker Roman Pavlyuchenko.

But for Pompey it was a welcome return to winning ways having conceded 10 goals in their previous two matches, although the victory was tarnished when Lassana Diarra was sent off after a second yellow card foul on fellow Frenchman Benoit Assou-Ekotto two minutes from time.

For the second Sunday running Spurs could point to a harshly-disallowed penalty claim when substitute Aaron Lennon, felt he had been pulled down in the area against Wigan last week, saw his cross-shot clearly handled by Diarra in the 53rd minute.

The visitors had worked their way back into the game after Defoe’s opener but were finished off Armand Traore, on loan from Arsenal, hit a thunderous shot which goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes parried for Crouch to head home his first Fratton Park goal since his summer move from Liverpool.

Defoe was on a mission from the start to prove a point to the club which sold him to Pompey in January.

Having been pulled up by an offside flag after just two minutes when he swept home Crouch’s through-pass, the England international went on a one-man crusade against Spurs.

His 34th-minute penalty, awarded for handball by stand-in Tottenham captain Jermaine Jenas, must have felt sweet but he chose not to celebrate in front of the Tottenham fans packed behind Fratton Park’s Milton End goal.