Jermain Defoe continued his scoring streak on Thursday in the Europa League, putting away Spurs’ second goal in its 2-1 home defeat of Sheriff Tiraspol.
Tottenham is top of Group ‘K’ with the maximum 12 points, five ahead of Anzhi Makhachkala, which won 1-0 at Tromso. Young Argentine striker Erik Lamela gave Spurs the lead on the hour with his first goal for the club. Seven minutes later Lamela was pulled down for a penalty, which Defoe calmly converted.
Ismail Isa pulled a late goal back for Tiraspol, but Spurs managed to hold out for the win without too many problems.
Earlier on Thursday, Wigan was beaten 1-0 at Rubin Kazan on a goal from defender Oleg Kuzmin, while Swansea City was held to a late 1-1 draw at Kuban Krasnodar.
Wilfried Bony gave Swansea an early lead, only for Ibrahim Balde to level for Kuban in the last minute. The hosts managed to force a draw despite having defender Alexandre Xandao sent off.
The results : Kuban Krasnodar 1 drew with Swansea 1; St. Gallen 2 lost to Valencia 3; PSV Eindhoven 2 bt Dinamo Zagreb 0; Ludogorets 1 drew with Chornomorets Odesa 1; Esbjerg 1 bt Elfsborg 0; Rubin Kazan 1 bt Wigan 0; Dnipro 2 bt Pacos Ferreira 0; Pandurii Targu Jiu 1 lost to Fiorentina 2; APOEL Nicosia 2 bt Bordeaux 1; Maccabi Tel-Aviv 4 bt Eintracht Frankfurt 2; Thun 0 lost to Dynamo Kiev 2; Rapid Vienna 2 drew with Genk 2; Estoril Praia 0 drew with Freiburg 0; Sevilla 1 drew with Liberec 1; Rijeka 1,drew with Lyon 1; Vitoria Guimaraes 0 lost to Betis 1; Lazio 2 bt Apollon Limassol; 1 Legia Warsaw 0 lost to Trabzonspor 2; Tottenham 2 bt Sheriff Tiraspol 1; Tromso 0 lost to Anzhi Makhachkala 1; AZ Alkmaar 1 bt Shakhter Karagandy 0; Maccabi Haifa 0 drew with PAOK 0.
