Chris Armstrong struck eight minutes from time to end Tottenham Hotspur's miserable sequence of results in a Premiership encounter woefully short of quality at Highfield Road.

The former England striker enabled George Graham's side to triumph for only the third time in 15 matches.

It was also their first goal in nearly seven hours of football and broke the resistance of Coventry keeper Magnus Hedman who pulled off a series of fine saves on the day after he signed a new four-year contract.

But for entertainment this was one of the poorest games served up at Highfield Road this season and had 0-0 written all over it until Armstrong broke through.

A crowd who have been accustomed to free-flowing football from the likes of Mustapha Hadji, Youssef Chippo, Robbie Keane and Gary McAllister saw only spasmodic flashes of excitement.

Rookie midfielder John Eustace gave an impressive display alongside Coventry's more illustrious names and he looked at home in the Premiership after scoring freely in the reserves during the first half of the campaign.

Up front Keane tried his best to conjure a goal but he missed the presence of injured target man Cedric Roussel.

But Tottenham will take great heart from a battling performance after losing their previous three matches by a single goal.

They repelled everything that Coventry could throw at them with England defender Sol Campbell outstanding while Darren Anderton posed problems on the right.

There was also the boost of Steffen Freund and Oyvind Leonhardsen coming through their first full games for two months after injury.

But that did not stop a small band of Tottenham fans chanting 'Alan Sugar out' - although they were drowned out by the majority after Armstrong broke the deadlock.

Tottenham looked the more enterprising in the early stages and a mistake by Gary Breen almost gifted them a goal. The Republic Of Ireland defender was under no pressure when he played a crossfield pass straight into the of Armstrong.

He was allowed a free run into the Sky Blues penalty area but Hedman was the equal of his rising shot which he parried around the post away to his left.

Both sides struggled to find any fluency in the opening half hour although Spurs defender Chris Perry got an important block onto a shot from Noel Whelan after he had been found in space by Paul Williams.

Coventry finally came to life with Eustace at the heart of their most enterprising moments.

He was involved in a one-two with Keane which sliced through the Tottenham defence and a goal looked on the cards when the Republic of Ireland international sent a low centre into the path of Hadji.

But the Moroccan international, who stole in at the far post, failed to make a proper contact and Spurs keeper Ian Walker was able to block his eventual shot.

Keane became the first player to be booked in the 38th minute when he disputed too strongly referee Paul Durkin's decision to award Tottenham a free-kick.

The visitors suffered a setback on the stroke of half-time when midfielder Tim Sherwood limped out of the action to be replaced by Stephen Clemence.

The opening phase of the second period was also littered with mistakes before Walker was called upon to deny Hadji for the second time when he blocked his close-range effort.

Tottenham retaliated and Anderton beat the offside trap only to scoop his first-time shot over the bar from a Ginola pass when he had time to steady himself.

Hedman then saved a 20-yard free-kick from Anderton but the game was crying out for a spark of inspiration to ignite it into life.

Keane squandered a good opportunity when he shot over from the edge of the area after being put clear by Whelan.

But with eight minutes left, Anderton supplied an inviting corner for the head of Armstrong and his downward effort contained too much power for Hedman to keep out.

Armstrong then had the chance to strike again after racing clear of the Coventry defence but this time Hedman blocked his effort.

Teams:

Coventry: Hedman, Breen, Shaw, Williams (Quinn 46), Burrows, Hadji, Eustace, McAllister, Chippo, Whelan (Normann 81), Keane.

Subs Not Used: Hyldgaard, Konjic, Strachan.

Booked: Keane.

Tottenham: Walker, Carr, Campbell, Perry, Taricco (Young 62), Ginola, Freund, Sherwood (Clemence 45), Leonhardsen, Anderton,Armstrong.

Subs Not Used: Baardsen, Korsten, Scales.

Goals: Armstrong 82.

Att: 23,077

Ref: P Durkin (Dorset).