It's points not plaudits we wanted - Sam

PATS on the back and consoling words - however well-meant - featured in Sam Allardyce's worst nightmares last summer.

Wanderers didn't strain every sinew and summon every ounce of effort to gain promotion just to spend a season in the Premiership playing for sympathy.

So anyone daring to offer a "well done" or a "hard lines" after the events at White Hart Lane last night ran the risk of being crossed off the Christmas card list.

Big Sam was not listening. Wanderers are not looking for platitudes and plaudits, they are looking for points and Teddy Sheringham's trademark glancing header five minutes from time meant they came away from North London empty handed - as so many of their predecessors have done in the history of this fixture.

"It's no good people patting you on the back and saying 'Good performance' when we are going back up the road empty handed," the manager said, rejecting the kind, sporting words being doled out by an appreciative audience.

"We've had the performance and not the result but it doesn't matter to us whether we play well or badly ... just as long as we get the points."

There was no hiding the disappointment and no getting away from the fact that Wanderers have only themselves to blame for missing out on at least one precious point after showing their class and their courage to give Glenn Hoddle palpitations on the touchline.

But once they get the emotions out of their system, they will reflect calmly and clinically on a very good performance, knowing that, for all their insecurities, they really are looking a decent Premiership side.

They have in Michael Ricketts a quite exceptional scoring talent. He took his season's total to 12 - 10 in the Premiership - under the watchful eye of England boss Sven Goran Eriksson. It was, in its build-up and then its execution, a gem of a goal that gave Wanderers a shock lead in the eighth minute. Kevin Nolan deliberately and accurately backheeled Bruno N'Gotty's pass into the area where Ricketts was able to wrong foot Ledley King and place a skimming left footer out of Neil Sullivan's reach.

That and the save Jussi Jaaskelainen made from Christian Ziege's free kick to ensure the lead remained in tact until half-time were examples of the class Wanderers have brought to the Premiership.

The courage came in the way they refused to have their confidence undermined when Spurs stormed into a 2-1 lead within three minutes of the restart - instant success for Hoddle's decision to send on Les Ferdinand in what he admitted was a "caution to the wind" approach. The big centre-forward played a part in the first that was eventually headed in by Gus Poyet after the ball had rebounded off the post, hit Mike Whitlow and cannoned back onto the bar, then he scored the second, rounding off some neat interplay while Ricketts was still arguing the toss at the other end over a penalty appeal he'd had rejected.

Spurs went from frustration to jubilation in a matter of seconds and clearly thought they were on a roll. But Wanderers - previously beaten only once on their travels this season - had other ideas.

Ricketts showed he is not just a pretty finisher when he turned provider on 56 minutes, skilfully creating space for himself to pave the way for Rod Wallace, who had spurned a good first half chance, to run King and embarrass Sullivan with a low drive.

Spurs produced plenty of attractive, attacking football - Hoddle teams always will - but the real chances came at the other end as Wanderers' counter-attacking play put them in sight of a victory to add to their away successes at Leicester, Manchester United and Ipswich.

Young Nolan, combative and committed in every move he made, could have capped a strong performance if he'd hit the target with a header from Gareth Farrelly's cross and if Dean Holdsworth had been more purposeful rather than hesitant when he raced clear from halfway, the ball could have been in the net long before Dean Richards intervened.

There were penalty appeals. Wanderers reckon they have evidence that clearly shows Sheringham pulling Ricketts' arm and if Poyet wasn't fouling Nolan when the pair challenged for Farrelly's throw then referee Paul Durkin must believe mountaineering or piggy-back riding are now legitimate defensive ploys.

There were even claims that the free-kick that led to the matchwinner was a dubious decision. But Allardyce preferred to concentrate on his own team's qualities and misgivings rather than level accusations at the official.

"The quality of our goals was fantastic," he enthused. "We showed great determination and great character to come back but we fell asleep on a set-play.

"We've got to tighten the back end up. We've scored two goals and come away with nothing, just as we did at Aston Villa, and that's not good enough."