Hull City were beaten 3-0 by Tottenham in the final of the Premier League Asia Trophy at Beijing’s Worker’s Stadium.

A mistake by goalkeeper Tony Warner saw the Tigers fall behind as he allowed a 16^th minute shot from Robbie Keane to squirm under his body.

Hull had chances to equalise, with Dean Marney, Kamil Zayette and Kevin Kilbane all denied by an acrobatic display from much-maligned Spurs’ custodian Heurelho Gomes.

But City went two-down on 68 minutes when Warner hauled down Jermaine Defoe in the box and Keane dispatched the spot-kick. Aaron Lennon rubbed salt into the wounds with a third goal late on.

Hull reached the final with a 5-4 penalty shoot-out victory over hosts Beijing Guo’an, who have led the Chinese Super League for much of the season. Hull took a 9th minute lead through a spectacular 20-yarder from Geovanni. However, they struggled in the searing heat and were left hanging on for penalties. Paul equalised for the hosts three minutes after the break and Guo’an substitute Yang Pu struck the post on 80 minutes. Dean Marney saw his shoot-out spot-kick saved by Guo’an keeper Yang Zhi but after Caleb Folan converted the Tigers’ first sudden-death penalty, Zhang Xinxin was off target with his attempt.

Manager Phil Brown is still searching for a striker, including an eye-catching £15m attempt to gazump Sunderland for the services of Spurs’ Darren Bent, now looking more surplus than ever to White Hart Lane requirements after Peter Crouch’s arrival from Portsmouth.

City have been linked to former Celtic striker Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink. And their considerable efforts to land Fulham’s Bobby Zamora look to have foundered.

Brown has blamed transfer window regulations for the “ridiculously too high” prices being demanded for players, telling the Hull Daily Mail: “If you can’t get a Championship player for less than £5m, then the game has just gone crazy.

“The transfer window system needs to be revamped for everyone to start trading sensibly again.”

Brown received backing on the issue from chairman Paul Duffen, who said: “It’s absolutely crazy that we have a transfer window that closes on 31 August yet we start playing on 15 August.

“Last year, 82% of deals got done in the last five days of the window, so you have to accept that you will start your season without being able to complete your squad.”

Their resources have been further depleted by a training ground injury to Australian midfielder Richard Garcia, who damaged knee ligaments and has been ruled out for up to three months.

Brown, however, backed him to overcome the setback, saying: “Richard has had long-term injuries in the past and I know he’s strong enough to come back.”

Brown may also lose centre-back Michael Turner, who is attracting attention from Spurs and Liverpool.

However, Turner himself has played down the speculation, claiming: “I have heard about one or two things in the paper but I am just concentrating on my training and getting fit for the season.”