PORTSMOUTH 1, TOTTENHAM 2

IT OUGHT to have been party time down at the port last night.

Pompey fans should have been savouring the sweetest of victories over Harry Redknapp and the other Portsmouth old boys who Tottenham brought down to Fratton Park.

A right old shindig it could have been given that Jermain Defoe - a hate figure among the locals - got himself sent off with 30 minutes still remaining.

As it was, Defoe left Fratton Park with the last laugh having scored what proved to be the decisive goal just before half-time.

It left Pompey reflecting on what might have been had rejuvenated Spurs keeper Heurelho Gomes not made three world-class saves and home striker Aruna Dindane been guilty of three world-class misses.

Such hard-luck stories are a common theme of teams doomed to relegation.

Despite the arrival of another new owner, things are looking increasingly bleak for Pompey.

There was no faulting their effort or commitment.

Manager Paul Hart has engendered a good spirit but the players at his disposal are just not good enough - especially up front.

If Dindane is considered their first- choice striker, then it is difficult to see how Pompey will get anywhere near enough goals to stay in the Premier League.

They will only stand a chance of survival if the South Coast club's new Saudi Arabian owner Ali Al-Faraj comes up with cash to add quality to the squad - especially in attack - during the January transfer window.

Otherwise it is unlikely that Pompey will haul themselves off the canvas like Spurs did this time last year after Redknapp left the South Coast to take over at White Hart Lane.

As it stands, Pompey have managed just five league goals in an opening run of eight defeats and a solitary victory.

It says much that only 13 months ago, Tottenham were beaten 2-0 in the corresponding fixture in the last days of Juande Ramos with, yes, Defoe and fellow Spurs hitman Peter Crouch scoring the Portsmouth goals.

Until his red card in the 60th minute, Defoe had been full of menace.

After Spurs were reduced to 10 men, sub Crouch - who had replaced Robbie Keane in the 56th minute - led the line superbly on his own.

In contrast, Pompey had Dindane in attack - a player plucked from French club Lens.

The Ivory Coast centre-forward's surname might sound a bit like Zidane but that is where the similarity ends.

Yesterday, Dindane was not even fit to be the great man's driver because he would have just kept crashing.

You will be hard pressed to witness such a miserable hat-trick of open-goal misses down your local park this morning

He should have given Pompey the lead as early as the 13th minute.

Tommy Smith, who looks a decent recruit from Watford, surged down the left flank before sending over a perfect low cross which eluded both Ledley King and Gomes.

As the ball arrived at the back stick, it was begging for Dindane to side-foot home.

But from just four yards, he scooped the ball 40 feet over the bar.

It did not take long for Pompey to be punished.

Defoe had displayed a determination and desire to put one past his old club right from the off.

And the fire in his belly was all channelled in the right direction during the first period.

In the third minute, the England hitman strode forward before hitting a swerving 20-yard shot which Pompey keeper David James read well and collected comfortably. Six minutes later, Defoe beat the offside flag to latch on to a well-measured Tom Huddlestone pass.

From inside the box, the Tottenham striker whipped his shot past the helpless James but the ball thudded back off the near post.

Then came Dindane's first miss and Gomes' first great save.

The much-maligned Brazilian goalkeeper - back in the Spurs side with Carlo Cudicini dropping to the bench - showed brilliant reactions in the 22nd minute when he beat out Younes Kaboul's deflected free-kick stinger.

Portsmouth had a few opposition old boys of their own with Kaboul, Michael Brown and Kevin-Prince Boateng once plying their trade at White Hart Lane.

They also have Jamie O'Hara at Fratton Park but he was unable to play yesterday due to the terms of a loan agreement with Spurs.

OFF: Jermain Defoe is dismissed against his old club

The visitors took the lead in the 29th minute when another former Pompey player, Niko Kranjcar, swung in a corner and King punished James' indecision by nodding over him after out-jumping Kaboul.

James had confused his defence by initially coming off his line then stopping in no-man's land.

Tottenham started to dominate and Defoe grabbed the goal he so craved in first-half stoppage-time.

The lethal marksman slid home from close range following a great low cross from Jermaine Jenas.

It might have looked a simple finish but you suspect Dindane would have somehow missed it. Spurs looked set to canter home but events took a turn for the worse once Boateng pulled one back in the 59th minute.

The German midfielder beat Gomes with a thunderous effort from an acute angle following Brown's cross.

Just moments later, the tension of the day got to Defoe when he stamped on Aaron Mokoena's shin after the duo wrestled for the ball.

Unfortunately for the Spurs man, it happened right in front of referee Phil Dowd.

Defoe protested his innocence but Redknapp had no complaints after the game.

The home side should have equalised after more lovely wing play from Smith.

Pompey's livewire pulled the ball back on a plate for Dindane.

But the hapless striker side-footed comfortably wide from four yards out and with Gomes taken out by Smith's cross.

Gomes then made two exceptional stops to deny Hassan Yebda and Smith.

Dindane made sure Pompey would not complete the comeback by standing still with Frederic Piquionne's far-post header just needing a touch as the ball went across the face of goal.

Dindane's profligacy started to get contagious because Aaron Lennon missed a sitter in injury-time as he raced clear at the other end.

Pompey's misery was completed when Brown was dismissed in added time for two bookable offences.

By the end, the home faithful - who did not give Redknapp anywhere near the level of stick expected - had lost the will to jeer.

In truth, the taunts had more the ring of pantomime than real menace. Just like Pompey's finishing.

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