Tottenham 1-0 Sunderland: The Daily Mirror match report

No handshake, not an even an acknowledgement at the final whistle for either Harry Redknapp or his assistant Joe Jordan.

But Roman Pavlyuchenko was the toast of the Spurs boss last night after his sweet strike put Spurs back into title contention.

The Russian misfit is available to the highest bidder in January but if his winner yesterday is to be his leaving present then it was very gratefully received.

The three points saw Spurs leapfrog Chelsea into third, two points off second-placed Manchester United with a game in hand.

Spurs will have the chance to go five points clear of their London rivals when they host Chelsea in a blockbuster on Thursday.

But this was very much a match they had to win to confound the doubters and increase the belief within their relatively young squad that they are capable of rolling with the big boys.

His strike may have been decisive but Pav had to have the wind put up him by Redknapp to remind him that he had a role to play.

It came just half an hour in after Aaron Lennon tore a hamstring while attempting a sprint.

It was clear to everyone in the stadium that the winger needed to be replaced - except Pavlyuchenko who still sitting in his heated subs' chair in his tracksuit.

Redknapp left the striker in no doubt that he needed to get a move on and probably gave him the once-over with the hairdryer at half-time too.

The Spurs boss later played down the spat but admitted: "I get uptight with anybody when they haven't got their gear on.

"He hadn't warmed up an awful lot. He did nothing wrong. It was probably just me doing my nut for a change."

Up until Pav's goal most Tottenham fans would have been 'doing their nut' with him as the Russian had not contributed too much before then.

But when it came it was a cracker. Man of the Match Rafael van der Vaart played a delighful reverse pass into the striker's path and Pav speared a magnificent diagonal drive into the bottom corner.

White Hart Lane erupted as Redknapp punched the air in delight. He added later: "He's a fantastic player. He's got real talent. He's got great ability, I think.

"Left foot, right foot, great finisher. He's top drawer but he's just been unlucky. He didn't start the season great, to be fair.

"He hasn't really shown the form that he's capable so hes slipped down the pecking order a bit. I lost a wide man yesterday but I thought I'd change it.

"If you want someone to score he's always likely to score. I want to keep the four of them. You need them.

"Some people are going to be upset they're not in the team.

"It's difficult. He's an international player. He's got the Euros coming up. They all want to play. It's like Jermain Defoe.

"I understand. He wants to get back in the England squad too. You can't keep them all happy.

"In football, the ones you pick they all love you at the time and the ones you don't can't stand the sight of you."

As for this contest, it was no classic. But Spurs responded well to their first setback - being robbed of victory at Stoke last week - by regaining the winning thread.

Sunderland yesterday were better than they have been for a while with the organisation and work ethic of new boss Martin O'Neill already evident.

And there were some Spurs fans who had had a bad feeling about this one pre-match with no Gareth Bale or Jermain Defoe in either the starting line-up or on the bench.

The loss of winger Aaron Lennon after just 30 minutes with a suspected hamstring injury increased concerns among the home support that Sunderland could cash in against a side without their winged wonders.

Lennon, who will have a scan today, said last night: "It looks like I've probably torn it."

Kieran Richardson left a few Spurs hearts in mouths midway through the first half yesterday when he tested keeper Brad Friedel with one effort and just failed to reach Seb Larsson's ball across the six yard box a few minutes later.

Larsson himself tested Friedel with a fine free kick seven minutes before the break as Sunderland showed some welcome fight.

And by the interval the outlook was bleak for the home side. Tottenham had failed to get a shot on target in the first half of a Premier League game for the first time in three years.

But the Black Cats' record at White Hart Lane overall is terrible with just one win in 20 visits since 1978.

And Tottenham's class told in the second half. Van der Vaart had a shot deflected win on 55 minutes.

Emmanuel Adebayor narrowly failed to get his head onto a cross from Benoit Assou Ekotto a minute later.

Pavlyuchenko made no mistake on the hour with his finish. But then Luka Modric served up a contender for Miss of the Season on 68 minutes.

Van der Vaart (who else?) put Adebayor through on goal. The former Arsenal striker drew a fine save from Westwood with an attempted chip.

But when the rebound fell to Modric eight yards out you'd have put your mortgage on the Croatian rolling the ball into the net. Instead he blasted skyward to leave Redknapp with his head in his hands.

By the end, however, the Spurs boss had forgotten it. The three points were all that mattered.

Redknapp said: "I was satisfied with one. At half-time it was a tight game. we found it difficult to create as many chances as we normally do.

"They looked solid defensively but, once we scored, we really opened up an door and couldve gone and scored a few more.

"Youre not going to keep winning every week but, if you want to be in that top group, you cant have too many slip ups.

"Losing the pace out of my team really frightened me, but I felt our full-backs did that. Benoit had some great runs down this side and Kyle Walker did well on the other side, so it all worked out OK."