Tottenham Hotspur have squeezed past Sheriff Tiraspol 2-0 in the Europa League this evening to leave them on the brink of qualification from Group K.
Goals from Jan Vertonghen and Jermain Defoe were enough for Andre Villas-Boas's side, although they will have to wait until the next round of games to confirm their progress following Anzhi Makhachkala's 1-0 win over Tromso.
Belgium international Vertonghen opened the scoring after 12 minutes when he headed home Christian Eriksen's cross, after the Dane had originally played a short corner to allow him the room to centre from a different angle.
Henrique Luvannor nearly equalised moments later after he rounded Hugo Lloris but Vlad Chiriches persisted, and cleared off the line with a sliding stop.
Aaron Lennon nearly doubled the lead after the break when he finished off a mazy dribble with a shot against the post with 67 minutes gone, after he had earlier gone close with a one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
However, Spurs had their second less than 10 minutes later when Defoe's deflected
shot took it over Sheriff keeper Vjekoslav Tomic into the top corner.
Paul Gorst
