It was ultimately a couple of mishits that gave Stephen Ireland the chance to pull the Blues level – despite looking offside and not getting the best of touches himself.
He told us: “I watched the replay and I guess I was possibly offside. But as the ball came to me I wanted to pull it into the corner but I didn’t get enough connection on it – I’ll take it though – I don’t care!
“We just needed the luck like that though. If you look at when we played them at White Hart Lane they had a couple of bits of luck so any luck we’re getting now we’ll take it.”
City had to dig deep in a lively encounter, coming from a Robbie Keane goal down to claim an important three points, which now leaves City just two behind sixth placed Portsmouth.
Having picked up only one point from the previous three games, Ireland was well aware that a win against the Carling Cup holders was vital after recent disappointments.
He admitted: “We had a bit of a break after the derby and I think that’s where things might have gone a bit downhill.
“We’ve battled away with a few things not going our way and now we just need to pick up from here.
“We weren’t threatening the opponents goal often enough in recent weeks. I felt against Spurs we just went out and were hungry, we got the ball and wanted to win and create.
“I think our defence did really well, we restricted them to long-range shots, they didn’t really threaten.
“After the first goal we went from strength to strength.”
