Birmingham goalkeeper Andy Marriott made one of the clangers of the season to send his new club to a potentially-disastrous defeat as Glenn Hoddle celebrated two years in charge at Tottenham on Saturday.

Journeyman shot-stopper Marriott's first significant contribution to the Blues' relegation battle was an horrendous error reminiscent of Gary Crosby's famous goal when he sneaked up behind Andy Dibble and nodded the ball out of his grasp to score.

In the fifth minute, Marriott collected a tame delivery into the box and dropped the ball at his feet to clear.

But he failed to see Robbie Keane behind him and the Republic of Ireland striker, mourning his father's death last week, stole possession and rolled the ball into an empty net.

Paul Devlin grabbed a leveller from the penalty spot before Gus Poyet thundered home a magnificent 87th-minute volley for the winner.

Marriott was signed from Barnsley last month after Nico Vaesen suffered ankle ligament damage.

The 32-year-old moved on a short-term deal until the end of the season and was dramatically called into the starting XI when Ian Bennett suffered an ankle injury in training yesterday afternoon.

Given his error today, it was perhaps easy to see why Marriott has only ever enjoyed regular football at Wrexham despite Birmingham becoming the 12th club of his career.

The man between the sticks at the other end - Kasey Keller - showed Marriott how to do it with a spectacular first-half reaction save from Christophe Dugarry.

Hoddle, whose side are hoping to seal a UEFA Cup place, also had reason to thank Ledley King as he cleared Matthew Upson's shot off his own line.

In a quieter second half, Steve Bruce's men huffed and puffed and finally blew down Tottenham's defensive door when Mauricio Taricco bundled over Dugarry for a penalty with 15 minutes left.

Devlin fired home from the spot before Poyet struck in style with three minutes of normal time left.

In the second minute, Birmingham's Geoff Horsfield had missed a wonderful opening.

The striker, only playing due to Clinton Morrison's dislocated shoulder, controlled the ball after a diagonal free-kick and turned brilliantly - but dragged his shot across the face of goal from six yards.

The first goal came at the other end three minutes later after Marriott's horrendous mistake which gave Keane the softest goal he will ever have scored.

It was all Spurs in the opening 20 minutes, with Gus Poyet sending a header bouncing just wide from a 16th-minute corner.

Darren Anderton was the next to have a crack, firing past the far post after Simon Davies turned Birmingham's ex-Spurs midfielder Jamie Clapham inside-out.

Keller kept Hoddle's men in front two minutes before the half-hour with a fantastic reaction save, clawing Dugarry's flick round his right-hand post.

And from the resulting corner, King had to hook Upson's shot off his own goalline.

After the break, Horsfield still looked the most dangerous player for the west midlanders.

His first effort in the second period trundled harmlessly wide - but he went much closer after 49 minutes.

The big frontman craned his neck to connect with Clemence's cross and looped the ball over Keller but onto the roof of the American's net.

Poyet sent a dipping volley into the side-netting as Spurs attempted to re-establish the upper hand.

It was the home side in the ascendancy again now and Marriott partially redeemed himself for his terrible first-half error with a stunning tip-over from Goran Bunjevcevic's 22-yard strike.

And centre-back Chris Perry met two Anderton corners, sending one past the far post and one inches over the crossbar.

At the other end, the Londoners rode their luck in an extraordinary goalmouth scramble.

Both Mauricio Taricco and Anderton cleared off their goalline.

But Spurs could ride their luck no longer and Birmingham levelled from the penalty spot in the 75th-minute.

Clemence chipped the ball through to Dugarry, who was pulled over by Taricco. From the spot, Paul thundered down the middle of the goal to make it 1-1.

Marriott saved well from Sheringham's header with 10 minutes left.

But there was drama in the 87th minute as Poyet latched onto a long punt upfield and smacked a sensational volley beyond Marriott for the winner.

Teams

Tottenham: Keller, Carr, Taricco (Etherington 84), Perry, King, Davies, Poyet, Anderton, Bunjevcevic, Sheringham, Keane.

Subs Not Used: Sullivan, Doherty, Acimovic, Toda.

Booked: Bunjevcevic.

Goals: Keane 7, Poyet 88.

Birmingham: Marriott, Kenna (Carter 90), Clapham, Upson, Cunningham, Devlin, Damien Johnson, Clemence, Dugarry (Kirovski 86), Horsfield, John (Lazaridis 56).

Subs Not Used: Davies, Michael Johnson.

Booked: John.

Goals: Devlin 77 pen.

Att: 36,058

Ref: D Elleray (Middlesex).