Hopeless Tottenham Hotspur slumped to yet another defeat, this time against Stoke City who secured a narrow 2-1 victory at the Britannia Stadium on Sunday.

Stoke took an early lead in the 19th minute when Gareth Bale was sent off for a foul inside the area and Danny Higginbotham scored from the penalty spot. The visitors exerted a brief period of pressure on the Stoke defense, managing to equalize through Darren Bent in the 25th minute but Rory Delap restored Stoke's lead eight minutes into the second half.

The hosts created an early chance in the game with Delap squaring the ball for Tom Soares but the striker only managed to hit the ball straight into the hands of keeper Gomes. Stoke took a deserved lead in the 19th minute when Soares snatched the ball from Bale before racing past the full back into the penalty area.

Bale had backtracked and tried to amend his mistake by challenging Soares inside the area but failed to get the ball and left referee Lee Mason with no choice but show him a red card. Higginbotham made no mistake from the penalty area to put his side in the lead.

Tottenham began to show some urgency for the first time in the game after going behind and were duly rewarded for their efforts six minutes later when Bent latched on to Alan Hutton's deflected shot before slotting the ball past Thomas Sorensen.

Spurs dominated the possession in spite of a man down but Stoke hung on to the score line until the half time whistle. The hosts came out after the break with a renewed vigor and were back in front by the 53rd minute when Sidibe found Delap with a great pass and the full back coolly converted his chance from close range.

The visitors had an injury scare midway through the second half when Vedran Corluka was kneed in the ribs by his own goalkeeper and was taken away to a hospital after a long treatment on the field.

The fourth official signaled 11 minutes of extra time but Stoke should have had put the result beyond doubt when they were awarded a second penalty when Jonathan Woodgate fouled Soares but Ricardo Fuller saw his penalty shot ricochets twice against the post while Delap's follow up shot thudded against the bar.

Tottenham were reduced to 9 men late in injury time when Michael Dawson was shown a red card for a cynical foul on Sidibe while Fuller saw his shot once again hit the bar as Stoke came away with three vital points from the match.