Tottenham 2-3 Birmingham

Sebastian Larsson scored in time added on to snatch victory for Birmingham in Alex McLeish's first game as boss after Robbie Keane scored twice and saw red.

Gary McSheffrey put Blues ahead from the spot against the run of play after Younes Kaboul had brought him down.

Keane scored a penalty after Dimitar Berbatov was felled by Fabrice Muamba and again from Tom Huddlestone's pass.

But Cameron Jerome levelled and Keane was sent off for a late foul on Muamba before Larsson blasted in at the death.

Interview: Spurs striker Jermain Defoe

It was a classic Premier League encounter, the type which persuaded McLeish to leave his role as Scotland boss.

And while he will have been pleased with the doggedness of his new team in ending Tottenham's six-match unbeaten run under their new manager Juande Ramos, the Scotsman will want to work on a defence which was undone time and again by the Spurs front three's movement in the first half.

Keane prodded and prompted just behind Berbatov and Darren Bent, while Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon were a menace down the flanks.

Keane should have scored when a delightful one-two with Bent left him with the keeper to beat - but he blazed well over.

Berbatov then turned provider with an exquisite pass which slipped Bent through on goal, only for Maik Taylor to deflect his shot to safety.

Having survived a battering, Birmingham stunned the home fans when McSheffrey broke into the left side of the box and converted the spot-kick after going down under a clumsy challenge from Kaboul.

All the play continued to go largely in one direction, however, and it needed a terrific save from Taylor to maintain the visitors' advantage when Bale curled his free-kick over the wall and towards his top left-hand corner.

Despite Spurs' superiority, Ramos had seen enough and replaced Kaboul and Bent with Tom Huddlestone and Defoe, opting for the 3-4-3 formation he had used to spark Thursday's revival against Aalborg in the Uefa Cup.

And it was very much a case of deja vu as Keane dispatched his spot-kick into the left corner after Berbatov went to ground and finished first time from Huddlestone's pass over the defence to take his season's tally to 12 goals.

It should have been 3-1 when Bale's trickery down the left finished with a terrible clearance from Rafael Schmitz landed at Berbatov's feet but his effort crashed back off the foot of the post.

Somehow Birmingham dragged themselves back into the game when Jerome forced his way through and fired past Paul Robinson.

But chances continued to come for Spurs, and Berbatov in particular, as he found himself in plenty of space following a corner but his header was cleared by Schmitz a yard in front of the line.

The visitors needed some breathing space and were given it when Keane was shown a straight red by Phil Dowd, after consulting his assistant, for a tackle on Muamba that was late but did not appear to be sinister.

Yet tottenham continued to pour forward and Defoe came desperately close when the ball landed at his feet after yet another mix-up in the Birmingham defence.

Inevitably, there had to be a lull following some frenetic passages of play but the game ended with more goalmouth action - this time in the home team's goalmouth.

Olivier Kapo's driven cross was met by fellow substitute Mikael Forssell and his effort thundered against the top of the bar and Robinson expertly denied Kapo's effort before Larsson cut inside from the left and arced his 25-yard shot into the top right corner to end a breathless duel.

Source: BBC Sport