After conceding ten goals in two games it was good to see the Pompey defence back to their organised best. Sol Campbell marshalled the back four very well whilst no unnecessary risks were taken when clearing the ball.
The defence were helped by a woeful Tottenham side that lacked confidence and any sort of shape. Pompey were the only team to have any meaningful attacks and after producing a couple of chances from corners we were gifted a penalty after Jermaine Jenas handled the ball in the box.
Step up, Jermain Defoe and you just knew he would find the net against his former club having already had a goal chalked off for being offside early in the game.
Tottenham were so poor that even Richard Hughes, the man who only knows how to pass sideways, had a couple of cracking attempts at goal from distance that Gomes managed to keep out.
Despite how badly the visitors were playing, they should have had a penalty after Lassana Diarra, surprisingly in the side after recovering from a knee injury, clearly handled Aaron Lennon's cross. I could see it perfectly from the Fratton End so how Mike Dean missed that during a week of dubious penalty decisions I will never know.
Things got even worse for Juande Ramos' side after Gomes could only parry Armand Traore's shot and there was former Tottenham youth Peter Crouch to nod in the rebound to score his first goal at Fratton Park since his return.
That goal virtually killed the game as a lacklustre Spurs side struggled to work David James, forcing him into one save from Lennon whilst Darren Bent woefully headed wide as Pompey managed to hold onto their clean sheet.
The only negative to come from the game would be Lassana Diarra's sending off. As Pompey counter-attacked, Diarra touched the ball too far in front of him and lunged to win it back but only caught Benoit Assou-Ekotto and recieved his second yellow card.
He can have no complaints about the sending off as we were 2-0 up at the time, he knew he was on a yellow card and so he knew that didn't need to be so reckless. It was a stupid thing to do which marred a very good performance and so he will now be banned for the visit of Stoke next Sunday.
After suffering two thrashings I can't have any complaints with this comfortable win coupled with a clean sheet. It was interesting to see Glen Little make his debut and he looks like a good crosser of the ball but has absolutely no pace.
I was also impressed by former Tottenham men Sol Campbell and Jermain Defoe. The former ignored the predictable abuse he was getting from the fans in the away section to turn in a strong showing whilst the latter was involved in nearly every Pompey move going forward and linked up well with the other players.
This result takes us to ninth in the table so hopefully it is onwards and upwards from here, starting with passage into the UEFA cup group stages on Thursday.
Pompey Player Ratings
David James: 6 - Had nothing to do bar one save.
Glen Johnson: 6 - Solid enough but found Lennon a handful at times during the second half.
Sylvain Distin: 6 - Rarely troubled.
Sol Campbell: 8 - Strong and commanding display.
Nadir Belhadj: 7 - Combined well with Traore.
Glen Little: 6 - Can cross a ball but looked a tad sluggish.
Lassana Diarra: 7 - Quality showing marred by reckless dismissal.
Richard Hughes: 7 - Got stuck in and even may have had a goal.
Armand Traore: 7 - Posed plenty of problems with his pace.
Jermain Defoe: 8 - Involved in almost every attack and took his penalty well.
Peter Crouch: 7 - Won every header and grabbed himself a deserved goal.
Substitutes
Jamie Ashdown
Younes Kaboul (Defoe 89): N/A - Tactical switch to ensure we didn't concede.
Noe Pamarot
Hermann Hreidarsson
Arnold Mvuemba
John Utaka (Little 61): 5 - Frustrating again.
Kanu