Premier League: Tottenham 1 Blackpool 1

Blackpool almost claimed the three points they desperately needed to avoid relegation but had to settle for a point in a dramatic 1-1 draw with Tottenham.

Charlie Adam missed a penalty with 15 minutes to go after Michael Dawson handled in the box but the Scotland international had the chance to atone for his miss, again from the spot, just 21 seconds later when Spurs keeper Heurelho Gomes tripped Gary Taylor-Fletcher.

This time, Adam netted to seemingly give Blackpool a crucial win but Jermain Defoe’s strike on 88 minutes salvaged a point for Tottenham, whose dreams of holding on to fourth place and a Champions League spot are hanging in the balance.

It can be argued that Adam was lucky to even be on the pitch after a foul on Gareth Bale should have been punished with a red card.

Bale left the field on a stretcher and replays showed his ankle buckle under Adam’s boot in a challenge that is likely to rule the Welshman out of Spurs’ final games of the season.

The match sprung into life after a tepid first half. Both sides seemed pretty lacklustre in the opening exchanges and even when Spurs found a way through, Roman Pavlyuchenko failed to test Matt Gilks in the Blackpool goal.

Sergey Kornilenko looked slow in attack for Blackpool and Adam failed to influence the match from deep in the first half as Spurs coasted towards a goalless conclusion after the first 45 minutes.

The second half had all the drama the first half lacked and the game exploded into life late on. With Blackpool increasingly getting a foothold in the game, Dawson handled Adam’s corner in the box and referee Lee Probert rightly awarded a penalty.

Gomes saved Adam’s spot kick but from the resulting corner, the error-prone goalkeeper brought down Taylor-Fletcher to incredibly give Adam the chance to redeem himself.

Having taken the ball off DJ Campbell, Adam this time sent Gomes the right way to seemingly give Blackpool a point in their hunt for survival.

But Defoe found space in the dying minutes to slam the ball past Gilks and earn a point for Tottenham.