George Graham held aloft the Worthington Cup at Wembley after his side displayed the never-say-die spirit he has instilled in his White Hart Lane revolution to claim an injury-time victory over Leicester with just 10 men.

The club's remarkable transformation from the dark days under Christian Gross was completed when Allan Nielsen headed the desperately late winner past Kasey Keller two minutes into added time.

It had not been a scintillating final, far from it in fact, with Justin Edinburgh's 63rd-minute dismissal the main talking-point for angrily swinging his arm at Robbie Savage's head.

But although Spurs at times lost their cool as Savage himself came painfully close to being dismissed, they never gave up and responded by piling forward in increasing numbers.

The impressive Les Ferdinand fed a pass out to Steffen Iversen on the right-wing, he showed great strength and speed to muscle his way past Steve Walsh and although Keller palmed out his cross-shot, Nielsen was on hand to plant his diving header into the net.

So Graham, a winner of this competition in his first season at Arsenal in 1987, again inspired a side to victory at Wembley and into next season's UEFA Cup.

He may still not be completely accepted at White Hart Lane given his deep-rooted Arsenal connections and although the Tottenham faithful did roundly cheer as he held the cup aloft, they saved their adulation for the irrepressible David Ginola.

But there is no denying that Graham deserves all the credit for transforming their fortunes in six months.

And he has now given them the base to seek further glory, with a place in next month's FA Cup semi-finals awaiting them and a cup double still a possibility.

Defeat left Leicester distraught and facing the prospect of their side breaking up but they were guilty of failing to take advantage of their numerical advantage following Edinburgh's second dismissal within three weeks.

Tottenham's last Wembley final was way back in the 1991 FA Cup and in the meantime, Leicester have played under the Twin Towers five times - four play-off finals and the Coca-Cola Cup final two years ago.

On that day, Pontus Kaamark man-marked Middlesbrough's playmaker Juninho but the Swedish defender was left on the bench this time against Spurs.

Amid the blustery conditions, with the remains of hundreds of balloons littered across the pitch, the unenviable task of shadowing Ginola fell instead to Rob Ullathorne.

Although one sublime back-flick from Ginola left Darren Anderton with a shooting chance that he wasted, Ullathorne started to get to trips with his adversary - with midfielders Savage, Neil Lennon and Muzzy Izzet taking turns to double-up in support.

With Anderton playing a central role, Spurs were handicapped by a lack of width down the right flank, forcing them to concentrate solely and all too predictably on Ginola.

For all their possession, their only real chance of the first-half came after 40 minutes, with Iversen heading an Anderton free-kick straight at keeper Kasey Keller, while two half-hearted penalty appeals for pushing were firmly turned down.

As the game increasingly lost its early sparkle, Leicester were similarly subdued but had created a clear opening on 21 minutes when Savage's through-ball left Heskey seemingly with a free run on goal.

Sol Campbell had missed his tackle in the build-up but team-mate Ramon Vega - one of many reinvigorated figures under Graham - darted round to cover and produced a perfectly-timed sliding tackle to deny Heskey as he was poised to shoot.

Ginola did start to make more of an impact after the break but his marker Ullathorne also managed to get forward and Ian Walker just managed to grasp his long-range shot at the second attempt as Tony Cottee raced in to pounce.

Leicester were starting to impose themselves physically on the game and it was amid this spell of pressure that the flashpoint between Savage and Edinburgh erupted.

Edinburgh lost his temper after a reckless foul by the Leicester midfielder and swung his arm out in anger to swipe Savage around the head.

Although little contact was made - despite Savage holding his face - referee Terry Heilbron had little option but to show the red card, as much for violent intent as anything else.

Anderton effectively moved into the back-four to cover but the Tottenham players were still furious and Savage had to endure a series of hard-hitting tackles.

There was no danger of a side managed by George Graham giving up though and they continued to press forward, with Nielsen shooting wide and Iversen hitting the side-netting with an effort that had his boss almost starting to celebrate.

Then Savage - the bete noire of the Tottenham fans - was at the centre of even more controversy.

Booked for his tackle that led to Edinburgh's dismissal, he came in late with his foot raised for a tackle on Steffen Freund that left the German literally hopping in anger and he had to held back by Cottee.

Heilbron consulted his assistant as the Spurs fans bayed for blood but the midfielder was given the benefit of the doubt and he again escaped after seeming to dive under a challenge from Nielsen on the edge of the penalty area.

O'Neill had seen enough and with a red card looming, he replaced Savage with Theo Zagorakis in stoppage time.

Incredibly though, that was merely the precursor to Tottenham's late winner and some ecstatic celebrations from a club who have patently under-performed for the past eight years.

The irony of course is that it has taken Graham's arrival for them to finally win some silverware. Perhaps the final score was all too predictable - 1-0 to George Graham's side.

Teams

Leicester: Keller, Savage (Zagorakis 90), Guppy, Elliott, Taggart, Walsh, Ullathorne, Izzet, Lennon, Heskey (Marshall 75), Cottee.

Subs Not Used: Arphexad, Campbell, Kaamark.

Booked: Elliott, Savage.

Tottenham: Walker, Carr, Campbell, Vega, Edinburgh, Anderton, Freund, Nielsen, Ginola (Sinton 90), Ferdinand, Iversen.

Subs Not Used: Armstrong, Dominguez, Young, Baardsen.

Sent Off: Edinburgh (63).

Booked: Vega.

Goals: Nielsen 90.

Att: 77,892

Ref: T Heilbron (Newton Aycliffe).