Roman Pavlyuchenko could only muster 21 goals during his four years as a Tottenham Hotspur player, so his double which ended Birmingham City's slim hopes of avoiding the Premier League drop would have particularly hurt the travelling supporters camped in a small section of White Hart Lane.
City headed into the final day of the season sitting one place above the drop zone, although just one point separated Wigan Athletic in 19th and Blackburn Rovers as high up as 15th in the league table. It was one of the tightest ever finishes to a season at the bottom end of the division, but it was Brum - and not survival experts Wigan - who dropped into the Championship when the dust finally settled on a dramatic afternoon on this day four years ago.
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For Birmingham, the problem was simple. They conceded too many goals and did not score enough up the other end over the course of the season and, even buoyed by their League Cup success against Tottenham's North London rivals Arsenal earlier that campaign, they did not have enough in them to claw their way clear.
Blues boss Alex McLeish, knowing full well that the home side were without the attacking threat of Gareth Bale and Rafael van der Vaart, sent out a side to frustrate Spurs with the intention of sneaking a goal against the run of play to keep their top-flight status intact. Things did not go quite to plan, though, as first-half substitute Pavlyuchenko seemingly forgot to read the script when curling home a superb effort beyond Ben Foster.
Prior to that, Birmingham had remained solid, doing exactly what had been asked of them at the back. Sandro had twice forced Foster into action, but it was seemingly a perfect gameplan up until that point. Then, Craig Gardner connected superbly with a corner kick to rifle home a shot beyond Carlo Cudicini which, coupled with results elsewhere, ensured that City were on track to achieving their target.
There was far more drama still to come, however, namely 150 miles North where Wigan had taken a crucial lead in their meeting against Stoke City. Wolverhampton Wanderers also played their part in things by dragging themselves back into the contest against fellow strugglers Blackburn, coming from three goals down to make it 3-2 late on.
Stephen Hunt's effort was enough to move Wolves out of the drop zone by virtue of goals scored, but it was not to matter because Birmingham themselves succumbed to late pressure when Pavlyuchenko added his second of the game in added time at White Hart Lane to confirm the West Midlands outfit's fate in cruel fashion as they fell to a 2-1 reverse.
The Russian's brace also helped create Premier League history, taking the goals-scored tally up to 1,063 for the campaign - the most in a 38-game season - although that record was surpassed the following year. As far as the Lilywhites were concerned, the win kept them in fifth place and ensured another season of European football.
It was an afternoon of high tension and drama, then, but ultimately one that Birmingham City supporters will not look back on too fondly.
Tottenham Hotspur: Cudicini, Kaboul, Dawson, King, Huddlestone (Kranjcar-83), Lennon, Modric, Rose, Sandro, Crouch (Pavlyuchenko-39), Defoe
Birmingham City: Foster, Carr, Johnson, Ridgewell, Davies, Larsson (Derbyshire-75), Gardner, Ferguson, Fahey, Beausejour, Jerome
Daniel Lewis
