Tottenham striker Roman Pavlyuchenko netted twice as his side beat Blackburn 3-1 at White Hart Lane to consolidate the North Londoners’ fourth place in The Premier League.
Jermain Defoe opened the scoring just before the break, then Pavlyuchenko made it two ten minutes after the interval, before Christopher Samba pulled one back for the visitors with ten minutes to go.
However, Pavlyuchenko scored his eighth in his last six games to end any hopes of a comeback by Sam Allardyce’s men.
Rovers midfielder David Dunn was denied a penalty when he appeared to be tripped by Vedran Corluka as Wilson Palcios came in to make a clean tackle, but referee Howard Webb said no.
Blackburn were forced into a change in goal after 25 minutes, when Paul Robinson sustained an injury to his left leg, with Jason Brown coming off the bench to replace the former Spurs favourite.
Defoe netted in stoppage time of the first half. Niko Kranjcar's corner was flicked on by Vedran Corluka and the England striker reacted first at the far post to poke home.
Spurs made it 2-0 in the 55th minute, when Luka Modric broke from a Blackburn corner and found Defoe, who set up Pavlyuchenko to shoot the ball through a culpable Brown.
Spurs should have had a penalty themselves when Gareth Bale was challenged by Michel Salgado in the area, but referee Webb again decided against giving a spot-kick.
Samba headed home from Pedersen's cross to set up a nervy last ten minutes for the home side.
However, Pavlyuchenko scored his second five minutes from the end when he converted Bale's cross, and was even denied a hat-trick moments later when Samba cleared off the line.