Samba strike sinks Spurs

Juande Ramos' presence failed to have the desired impact as the new Tottenham boss watched Christopher Samba snatch a 2-1 win for Blackburn right at the death.

Samba curled home a fine strike to secure Rovers' sixth straight victory and only their second triumph at White Hart Lane in a decade.

Ramos, appointed as Martin Jol's successor on Saturday night, will have been wondering how Spurs managed to throw it away as he looked on from the directors' box. Robbie Keane had put them in front from the penalty spot before Benni McCarthy levelled matters.

Initially his presence appeared to galvanise his eager to impress players, but once again the north London club were undone by poor defending.

Keane had fired them ahead with a 49th-minute penalty - his eighth goal of the season - in a fitting reward for his side's ascendancy. But McCarthy struck 10 minutes later to set up a tense climax that was completed when Congo defender Samba fired his remarkable late winner.

Blackburn, unchanged from the team that thumped Reading 4-2, had Brad Friedel to thank for keeping them in the match. Friedel made a string of fine saves, including a stop of Dimitar Berbatov's goalbound header that threatened to wrestle back the victory for Spurs.

Republic of Ireland marksman Keane started and finished Spurs' 49th-minute opener. He found Aaron Lennon with a beautifully-weighted pass that sent the jet-heeled Spurs winger racing in on goal.

Struggling to contain Lennon, Stephen Warnock sent him tumbling and referee Rob Styles immediately pointed to the spot. Keane bamboozled Friedel to rifle home the penalty and Warnock went into Styles' book for the offending challenge.

But disaster struck for Spurs in the 60th minute when McCarthy pounced with the equaliser, collecting David Bentley's pass and finding the net via a slight deflection off Michael Dawson.

And there was worse to come when Brett Emerton caused panic in the Spurs defence with a free-kick and when the ball was played to an unmarked Samba the winner seemed inevitable. The Congo defender curled his effort into the bottom left corner for a magnificent finish.