TOTTENHAM 1 BIRMINGHAM 3

Two goals from Dele Adebola and one from on-loan Mark Burchill meant that the first trophy he ever won as a manager ‚Çô and his only one at Spurs so far ‚Çô returned to haunt Graham on Halloween.

Forget White Hart Lane, this was Fright Hart Lane for Spurs and their supporters as they were ripped apart in the first half.

Although Les Ferdinand came close with two early headers, the Blues soon sensed their hosts‚ÇÖ nerves and settled into a rampant, if not repetitive, attacking display.

Tottenham‚ÇÖs arch tormenter was Stan Lazaridis down the left, while Adebola soon joined in the tricks to treat the travelling hoards who had braved the windswept journey from the Midlands.

Their efforts were rewarded after just 15 minutes when Lazaridis skipped past Stephen Carr and centred to the far post where Adebola was allowed the freedom of the penalty area to pull down and slot coolly past Neil Sullivan.

The goal will have done nothing to enhance Ramon Vega‚ÇÖs rickety reputation and Birmingham‚ÇÖs second will have left the Swiss under as much pressure as his manager.

This time Adebola picked up possession on the right, bustled past a feeble challenge from Ben Thatcher and as Vega stood off, simply rattled a left-foot finish past Sullivan from 20 yards.

Spurs main threat continued to come via the aerial approach and Chris Perry was a matter of inches away from cutting the deficit from a Darren Anderton free-kick as Birmingham‚ÇÖs defence was caught short.

But if the Blues were caught short, their Spurs counterparts were positively embarrassed right on half-time as Burchill ghosted in front of the unsuspecting Vega to convert Martin Grainger‚ÇÖs cross at the end of a 50-yard run.

The half-time whistle saw Birmingham rush off the pitch to the plaudits of their away support, while Spurs skulked off, probably fearing the fury of Graham.

That fury certainly fired the Premiership side up and they came out for the second period a different proposition, but sadly for their suffering supporters Birmingham also improved their aerial defence.

With Darren Purse and Martin O‚ÇÖConnor starting to win everything in the air, Spurs went back to the ground and on the hour grabbed a lifeline ‚Çô with a little help from referee David Pugh.

Ironically it was Lazaridis who turned from attacking hero to defensive villain as he was, albeit harshly, adjudged to have tripped Stephen Clemence from behind to hand the home side a penalty.

Darren Anderton duly obliged from the spot and for a while it looked like Spurs would salvage something from the game.

Carr headed inches over after Tim Sherwood had returned the ball back across goal.

Yet for all their possession and prompting, that was really the closest Spurs came to getting back into the game as Ian Bennett and his defence dealt admirably with everything thrown at them.

And as the minutes disappeared, so did the disgruntled home support and by the time the whistle sounded on the darkest night of Graham‚ÇÖs Spurs career, barely half the crowd were left to salute Trevor Francis‚ÇÖ heroes.

The Worhtington Cup had promised light relief from the rigours of Premiership football for Spurs, but those who came expecting a Halloween treat had well and truly been tricked.

Tottenham: Sullivan, Carr, Freund (Davies 10), Perry, Anderton, Sherwood, Ferdinand, Korsten (Dominguez 68), Thatcher, Clemence, Vega, Davies (Young 45).

Subs Not Used: Walker, Doherty.

Booked: Perry.

Goals: Anderton 60 pen.

Birmingham: Bennett, Gill, Purse, M. Johnson, Grainger, Eaden, O'Connor, Hughes, Lazaridis (Robinson 79), Adebola, Burchill (Ndlovu 74).

Subs Not Used: Poole, Bass, A. Johnson.

Goals: Adebola 15, 28, Burchill 45.

Att: 27,096

Ref: D Pugh (Bebington).