Jermain Defoe’s goal against his former club lifted Tottenham to a 1-1 draw with Portsmouth on Sunday and out of last place in the Premier League.
The England striker drove home a low, 20-yard left-footer in the 70th minute after David Nugent had given Portsmouth a 59th-minute lead at White Hart Lane.
The point was enough to lift Spurs four places to 16th while Portsmouth went up three to 12th. The result also sent West Bromwich Albion back down to last place on goal difference despite the Baggies’ 3-0 victory over Middlesbrough on Saturday with five teams at 21 points.
Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp, who was at Portsmouth until he switched clubs in late March, was frustrated his team didn’t collect all three points. But the team was stymied by quality saves by Portsmouth goalkeeper David James.
“We missed chance after chance late on, you’re never going to get a better chance to win a football match like we had,” Redknapp said. “I thought we showed great character to come back from 1-0 down. If we continue to play like this we won’t have a (relegation) problem.”
In Sunday’s other game, West Ham beat Fulham 3-1 to climb to eighth in the standings with goals by David Di Michele, Mark Noble and Carlton Cole. Paul Konchesky responded for the Cottagers with a 25-yard strike.
In the race for the title, Manchester United’s Dimitar Berbatov scored a last-minute winner in a 1-0 victory at Bolton on Saturday to put the Red Devils top for the first time this season. United replaced Liverpool, which doesn’t play until Monday at home to neighbor Everton.
Third-place Chelsea looked set to fall further off the pace when it trailed Stoke 1-0 at home with two minutes to go before Juliano Belletti and Frank Lampard scored for a 2-1 victory.
Aston Villa won 2-1 at Sunderland to stay fourth and fifth-place Arsenal won 3-1 at Hull.
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MADRID, Spain – Defending champion Real Madrid beat Osasuna 3-1 on Sunday for its fourth straight win, days after president Ramon Calderon resigned after being linked to a vote-rigging scandal.
Last-place Osasuna had taken a 20th-minute lead through Javad Nekounam but Sergio Ramos, Gonzalo Higuain and Arjen Robben hit back. Despite the victory, Madrid remains well behind runaway leader Barcelona, which beat Deportivo La Coruna 5-0 Saturday to become the first team to reach 50 points at the halfway point of the season.
Barcelona has dropped only seven points this season and leads Sevilla and Madrid by 12 points after 19 games.
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GLASGOW, Scotland – Zander Diamond scored two goals in three minutes to guide Aberdeen to a 4-2 victory over Celtic on Sunday and throw the Scottish title race wide open.
Defending champion Celtic had twice hit back to tie it 2-2 before defender Diamond scored in the 75th and 78th minutes at Pittodrie to push Aberdeen up to third.
The loss means that Celtic is only two points ahead of Rangers, which beat Falkirk 3-1 on Saturday.
There was another surprise in Sunday’s other game when Motherwell won 4-0 at Dundee United, which slipped to fourth place.
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AMSTERDAM, Netherlands – Mendes da Silva and Ari scored the goals to earn AZ Alkmaar a 2-0 victory over FC Volendam on Sunday to keep their team top of the Dutch league.
Ajax stayed second in the standings after a 4-2 win at NEC Nijmegen despite Dario Cvitanich’s dismissal in the 70th minute for a second booking.
AZ has 44 points, Ajax has 41 and FC Twente follows with 37.
