Samba late show stuns Spurs

Bentley challenges Malbranque for the ball

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Christopher Samba struck in the dying seconds as Tottenham began the post-Martin Jol era with a 2-1 defeat to Blackburn.

Clive Allen and Alex Inglethorpe were in charge of team affairs for the day but newly appointed manager Juande Ramos was in attendance at White Hart Lane and would have been encouraged by Tottenham's performance for much of the game.

Brad Friedel kept Rovers on level terms with two superb saves in the first half, but the American goalkeeper could do nothing to stop Robbie Keane scoring from the penalty spot in the 49th minute following a foul from Stephen Warnock on Aaron Lennon.

Ramos' biggest challenge, however, will be to add more steel to Tottenham's defence and the problem was highlighted again as Benni McCarthy equalised in the 60th minute with a deflected shot from outside the area.

Worse was to follow as Samba curled home a delightful second goal deep into stoppage time to take Blackburn into the top six and leave Spurs in the relegation zone.

The visitors should have gone ahead in the 10th minute when David Bentley had the time and space to pick his spot with just Radek Cerny to beat, only to his blast his shot wide.

Friedel had to come to the rescue again in the 18th minute, however, when a Tom Huddlestone free-kick was flicked towards goal by Michael Dawson only for the American stopper to intervene.

Sharp reactions from Friedel yet again proved decisive a heartbeat later with Steed Malbranque sending Aaron Lennon charging in on goal only for the Rovers keeper to deflect his effort to safety.

Robbie Savage limped off on the stroke of half time with Aaron Mokoena coming on as his replacement.

Keane started and finished the move that led to Spurs grabbing the lead on 49 minutes

The Republic of Ireland marksman found Lennon with a beautifully-weighted pass that sent the jet-heeled Spurs winger racing in on goal.

Struggling to contain Lennon, Stephen Warnock sent him tumbling and referee Rob Styles immediately pointed to the spot.

Keane bamboozled Friedel to rifle home the penalty and Warnock went into Styles' book for the offending challenge.

Lennon then forced a last-gasp save from Friedel as the home side, buoyed by their strike, went in search of a second.

But disaster struck for Spurs in the 60th minute when McCarthy pounced with the equaliser, collecting Bentley's pass and finding the net via a slight deflection off Dawson.

A Dimitar Berbatov header was kept out superbly by Friedel and the match was finely poised as it entered the final 20 minutes.

Darren Bent replaced Malbranque in the 77th minute, before words were exchanged in the dug out and on the pitch where a small of group of players squared-up.

Spurs brought on Defoe with two minutes to go in attempt to rescue, but instead the late drama came at the opposite end.

Brett Emerton caused panic in the Spurs defence with the initial free-kick and when the ball was played to an unmarked Samba the winner seemed inevitable.

The Congo defender curled his effort into the bottom left corner for a magnificent finish that gave Cerny no chance.