With 20 minutes to play, the game became a tough-tackling affair as Portsmouth tried to shut down Spurs in attack.
Andy Reid made an instant impact when he came on as a replacement for Routledge, himself a replacement, driving a free-kick into the wall.
The referee harshly ruled it came off O'Neil's arm and pointed to the penalty spot. Mido made no mistake although Ashdown dived the right way.
Defoe rubbed salt into the wounds, beating two defenders easily to hit a shot under Ashdown's body and leave Redknapp and his Portsmouth side with a mountain to climb to avoid relegation from the Premiership.
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