Etherington double downs Spurs at Stoke
Tottenham's Premier League title hopes suffered a setback as Matthew Etherington scored twice against his former club to earn Stoke a hard-earned 2-1 win on Sunday.
Etherington's first-half double put the Potters in firm control at the Britannia Stadium.
But Spurs pulled a goal back via Emmanuel Adebayor's penalty only to see their hopes of a comeback undermined by Younes Kaboul's late red card.
It was Spurs' first Premier League defeat in 12 matches and London rivals Chelsea now have the opportunity to climb above them into third with victory over leaders Manchester City on Monday.
"We've just got to go again now," Spurs manager Harry Redknapp told Sky Sports. "This is a tough place to come. No-one gets an easy game at Stoke."
Victory for the Potters made it three consecutive wins in the English top flight and striker Peter Crouch, one of several Spurs 'old boys' in Tony Pulis's team, along with Etherington and Jonathan Woodgate, said: "It was a great performance from us and we showed what we're all about,
"They (Tottenham) are a top class side and we were under the cosh, everyone was working as hard as they could and they weren't going to take that result away from us."
Stoke piled on the pressure straight from the whistle and took just 37 seconds to create their first opening.
With Rory Delap on the bench, it was left to Ryan Shotton to deliver one of those trademark Potters long throws.
Benoit Assou-Ekotto's attempted headed clearance fell straight to Etherington, whose stinging volley was palmed away by Brad Friedel, and Jonathan Walters could only find the side netting from the rebound.
Spurs could barely escape their own half and there was an air of inevitablity about Stoke's 13th-minute opener.
Again Shotton was at the heart of it, as his deflected cross was flicked on by Walters for Crouch, who evaded William Gallas before crossing for Etherington to rifle home.
Spurs struggled to find their rhythm but Thomas Sorensen was fully extended by Luka Modric's swerving low strike which the goalkeeper did well to turn around the post.
However, two minutes before half-time, Stoke went 2-0 up.
Shotton was again the creator, his long throw nodded on by Walters, and Etherington, having evaded marker Scott Parker, bundled the ball beyond Friedel.
Redknapp made two changes at the break, replacing Assou-Ekotto and Aaron Lennon with Sebastien Bassong and Jermain Defoe in a tactical reshuffle.
Spurs came within inches of scoring when Kyle Walker's inviting cross deflected off Woodgate and agonisingly past the far post.
Yet they halved the deficit in the 62nd minute when Adebayor converted from the penalty spot after Foy adjudged Whelan's outstretched leg toppled Modric inside the area despite Stoke's claims the Croatia international dived.
But Spurs' calls for a second penalty when Kaboul fell under pressure from Ryan Shawcross were rejected.
Luck did not appear to be on the visitors' side as Kaboul was denied on the line by Shawcross's arm before Adebayor slipped in the loose ball only for the goal to be wrongly ruled out for offside.
"Adebayor was a yard, two yards onside," a frustrated Redknapp said.
Tottenham's hopes were dealt a further blow when Kaboul received his second yellow card with eight minutes remaining for a clumsy foul on Walters and Stoke comfortably held out, even hitting the crossbar via Shawcross late on.