Bradford enjoyed their first visit to Tottenham for 64 years as a splendid Jamie Lawrence goal cancelled out Steffen Iversen's opener and gave them the mental and physical strength to claim a precious point in their Premiership survival fight.

Spurs left the field after a miserable second-half performance with the far from unfamiliar sound of their fans' discontent ringing in their ears and it was another setback to their hopes of a top-six finish, revived by last week's rare away win at Coventry.

They had outclassed Premiership novices Bradford in a first half of almost unrelenting pressure but were dogged by a dismal lack of ruthlessness in front of goal.

And after Iversen, returning from injury, had headed them into a 14th-minute lead with his first goal since Boxing day they were stunned by a delightfully-worked but shock equaliser from Lawrence three minutes before the break.

After that it was all downhill for Spurs and although they kept their Yorkshire visitors on the back foot for long periods nobody could begrudge Paul Jewell's battling side their eighth point from their last five matches.

Tottenham should have been ahead in the first 20 seconds when Bradford gave the ball away straight from the kick-off and Darren Anderton picked out Chris Armstrong running free into the box with a beautifully weighted through ball.

But last week's match-winner delayed his shot just a shade too long and gave on-loan goalkeeper Aidan Davison the chance to block it with his shins.

Anderton fired wide with a good chance teed up by David Ginola and Davison had to make a spectacular save from the Frenchman's dipping drive, arching backwards to turn the ball over after it had taken a wicked deflection off David Wetherall.

Beleaguered Bradford's only threat up to then had been a Lawrence header just too high from Peter Beagrie's cross.

And it looked like the start of an avalanche when Iversen, back after two games out with ankle trouble, rose above all challengers at the far post to head in Anderton's free-kick for his 13th goal this season.

Bradford, and particularly Gunnar Halle, were furious at the free-kick award, claiming Ginola had taken a flier over the Norwegian's desperate challenge out on the left. But they soon had more worries to address as Spurs piled forward.

There was a scare for Spurs at the other end when Dean Saunders slipped a malfunctioning offside trap only to roll his shot wide of the far post after drawing Ian Walker off his line, but it was a rare break in the one-way Tottenham traffic.

Davison performed wonders keeping out an acrobatic hook by Anderton and a fierce cross-shot by Steve Carr.

But Armstrong lacked conviction when running onto another promising ball in the box after a delightful link-up between Oyvind Leonhardsen and Anderton and Wetherall's last-ditch tackle prevented yet another chance developing.

By now Spurs had piled up 10 corners, an accurate reflection of their dominance. But they paid the price for failing to capitalise on their possession when Lawrence grabbed an equaliser that rewarded a nimble three-man move.

Saunders unhinged the Spurs defence with a clever dummy that allowed Lawrence and Dean Windass to exchange passes and the crimson-haired winger drove his low shot home from just inside the area on the end of the striker's neat back-heel return.

It was a bonus the small band of travelling Bradford fans clearly did not expect but it imbued their battling side with renewed determination.

Beagrie outjumped much taller challengers at the start of the second half to head Lawrence's long cross just over and then returned the compliment with a great ball from the left which grazed the top of Lawrence's head when a firmer connection would have surely brought a goal.

It was still largely a case of Spurs battering away at the Bradford goal but they did not manage another on-target shot until the 68th minute and survived a further scare when Sol Campbell's clearance was charged down by Gareth Whalley and, luckily for Tottenham, flew straight into Walker's arms.

Ginola tried all his tricks to open up a Bradford defence which had redoubled its resolve but his low drive at the end of a long, mazy dribble was no real test for Davison.

It took the introduction of substitute Les Ferdinand for his first appearance in six months following Achilles tendon surgery to force their first corner of the second half 17 minutes from the end.

Ferdinand, sharp and lively, also applied a splendid sideways header to Anderton's forward pass to set up the fading Iversen for a piledriver that finished just wide of a post 10 minutes from time.

But the disgruntled Tottenham punters knew it was time to make their way home when the hapless Armstrong skewered their final chance horribly wide of the near post after Anderton played him in with three minutes left.

Teams

Tottenham: Walker, Carr, Campbell, Perry, Taricco (Young 77), Leonhardsen (Ferdinand 73), Freund, Anderton, Ginola, Armstrong, Iversen.

Subs Not Used: Baardsen, Korsten, Nielsen.

Goals: Iversen 14.

Bradford: Davison, Halle, O'Brien, Wetherall, Jacobs, Lawrence, Whalley (Dreyer 77), McCall, Beagrie, Saunders (Cadete 80), Windass.

Subs Not Used: Southall, Blake, Sharpe.

Booked: Halle, Jacobs.

Goals: Lawrence 42.

Att: 35,472

Ref: P Jones (Loughborough).