A central defensive pairing for Newcastle of Craig Moore and Peter Ramage might have appealed to Keane and Mido had they not had to watch play unfold at the other end of the pitch, where Newcastle threatened to run amok.
Lee Bowyer gave his side the perfect start although when Tottenham levelled against the run of play, the visiting side looked to have engineered an escape route. Jermaine Jenas, jeered with every touch on his return to his former club, could offer no excuses for a horrendous miss when he rounded Shay Given but failed to hit an open goal.
Michael Dawson was then sent off, having not received the benefit of the doubt shown to Moore earlier in the piece. Newcastle could have added to their tally through Ramage while Keane might point to two strikes against the woodwork to illustrate the fine line between success and failure, but there was more than the width of a post separating the sides during one of Newcastle's best performances of the campaign.