Tottenham 2 Portsmouth 1

Tottenham's French midfielder Didier Zokora took a dive to earn a match-winning penalty in the first half after Spurs had taken a 42-second lead to break their Premiership goal-drought.

Danny Murphy slotted home his first for the club with less than a minute on the clock to end seven hours and 13 minutes without a Tottenham goal in the league.

But it was the second goal, 33 minutes later, which proved the real talking point at White Hart Lane as Martin Jol's team handed out a second successive defeat to early leaders Portsmouth - a side starting with three former Spurs players and another on the bench.

Pedro Mendes was the victim of a blatant injustice for Spurs' penalty. True, he should not have even put in a challenge on Zokora who was going nowhere in the area, but when he stuck out a leg, the Frenchman fell theatrically over it and referee Chris Foy pointed to the spot.

Jermain Defoe, back in the side as one of five changes from the team that scrambled past UEFA Cup outsiders Slavia Prague in midweek, confidently put away the penalty even though David James guessed the direction of his shot correctly.

And, although Nwankwo Kanu headed his fifth goal of the season five minutes before the break, it was not quite enough for Pompey although Andy Cole had a chance which he miskicked soon after coming on for the big Nigerian in the 72nd minute.

Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp revealed that referee Chris Foy apologised to him for awarding the dubious penalty which sent his team crashing to a 2-1 defeat at Tottenham.

But rather than criticise the match officials, Redknapp insisted football should embrace new technology to ensure such mistakes do not happen.

Tottenham's Ivory Coast midfielder Didier Zokora fell inside the penalty area, apparently without being touched by Portsmouth's Pedro Mendes, in the 34th minute at White Hart Lane.

Redknapp insists Zokora 'dived', but Tottenham head coach Martin Jol claimed his player was simply 'off-balance'.

Foy awarded a penalty from which Jermain Defoe scored Tottenham's second goal, but Redknapp said: 'The referee is embarrassed.

'He came to me at half-time and said, `Harry, I'm sorry, I've made a big mistake'. But what can I do about it now?

'The boy has dived and I saw that on the screen 10 seconds before the penalty was taken.

'But if the fourth official, who is wired up the referee, had a monitor at the side of the pitch, he could tell him that he wasn't touched.

'The ref has gone home knowing people will be saying what a giant ricket he has made, but he didn't do it on purpose. It was just a mistake.

'The referees need help out there and I don't know why we don't do something about it. It is simple. A player dives and it has cost us dearly. We certainly deserved something from the game.'

Redknapp recalled the August 23 incident when Mendes was caught by a forearm challenge from Manchester City's Ben Thatcher who was booked for the offence - but later suspended for eight matches.

He said: 'It is no different to that incident. The fourth official with a monitor could have told the ref what really happened.

'I don't know if people dive more in football now. It has always happened but that's no consolation when you have lost to something like that.

'We started sloppily and went a goal down in 40-odd seconds but Spurs were nervous after a few dicky results and we were not too worried.

'But the second goal made things very hard although we would have had a point but for (Paul) Robinson's great save at the end.'

Tottenham manager Martin Jol tried to defend Zokora, his £2million summer signing from Saint-Etienne, but admitted: 'It is clear he wasn't touched.'

Jol added: 'He (Zokora) said he was off-balance and assured me he didn't dive. I think he was off-balance. He is always going in and often looks unbalanced.

'I know this player and I have got to believe him if he said he was off-balance but I can understand why Harry Redknapp is upset because I have never seen an incident quite like this in this country.'

Zokora, though, celebrated the award of a penalty when Foy pointed to the spot and Jol said: 'That was because we were under pressure for results.

'They wanted to win and so, of course, they were happy to have a penalty.'

Jol added: 'I've been upset by penalties in the last two years. You win some - you lose them. But I think we deserved to win on the number of chances we created.

'Portsmouth were the better side in the second half but we were on top in the first and it is hard coming back from a European game on Thursday (Tottenham beat Slavia Prague in the UEFA Cup).'

Jol made a point of putting an arm around former Tottenham skipper Sol Campbell at the end of the match.

Campbell was jeered by the home crowd throughout, because of his Arsenal connections.

Jol said: 'I'm not somebody who can make the world better but Sol did well and everybody respects him - I think even our crowd respects him, really.'