A late own goal by Newcastle United defender Andy O'Brien settled a tight game at White Hart lane as Spurs took all three points from their encounter with the Magpies.
Sir Bobby Robson was fuming at half time and confronted the referee over his refusal to give his team a penalty after Aaron Hughes went down under pressure from Mauricio Taricco.
Robson said: "The penalty was a certainty and I wanted to know why he didn't give it.
"I was very calm when I spoke with him and I told him that I wanted him to give us a penalty.
"I think that if we had got a goal then we could have gone on and won the game." The match was hard-fought and both teams had their chances to snatch victory.
Just before the break Christian Ziege's shot cannoned off Jermain Defoe and fell to Gary Doherty who pulled his shot wide.
Alan Shearer then picked up a loose ball on the edge of the box after Kasey Keller had flapped at a high cross under pressure from Craig Bellamy.
However, Doherty blocked Shearer's shot by throwing himself between the striker and the goal.
Tottenham almost broke the deadlock when Robbie Keane was denied by Jonathan Woodgate who acrobatically cleared the ball off of the goal-line with an overhead kick.
The goal came with just five minutes left on the clock.
Second-half substitute Stephane Dalmat whipped in a ball across the face of the goal and it was turned into his own net by O'Brien with Keane lurking.
Spurs boss David Pleat said: "The Newcastle players thought that they had a good case for the penalty but they would wouldn't they? "Fortune favours the brave and I think that we deserved that win today."