AFTER going two goals up through Gary Lineker's 30th goal of the season and a Shaun Teale own goal, Spurs lost what had seemed an unassailable lead through some slapdash defending at White Hart Lane yesterday.

Goals by Kevin Richardson and lan Olney put Villa level before the break and Dwight Yorke struck again on 58 minutes to put Villa ahead after brilliant work by Regis.

The match has looked as good as won for Tottenham when Villa defender Shaun Teale deflected a 13th minute cross from Andy Gray into his own net. Shreeves complained that his side were denied a chance to make it 3-0 when Paul McGrath appeared to impede Durie in the box. But even when Kevin Richardson pulled one back in the 19th minute there was little sign of the collapse to follow.

Nigel Spink saved a Gary Lineker's penalty 15 minutes from time to deny Tottenham an equaliser, before late goals from Tony Daley and Cyrille Regis delivered a crushing defeat to send the Londoners back into relegation trouble.

Peter Shreeves surveyed the wreckage of his side's latest White Hart Lane disaster and confessed:

"I'm shellshocked."

He added: To go 2-0 up and then concede five is inexplicable. But we've just got to lick our wounds and come out fighting.

“The biggest concern is the way we defended in the last 20 minutes. We were out-paced and out-gunned.”

To add insult to the injury, it was against a Villa side who had not won away in the League for five months - and had not scored away for three months.

The alarm bells began to ring on the half-hour when the Spurs defence went missing for a free-kick by Richardson. Keeper lan Walker was just as slow to respond, leaving lan Olney unmarked at the far post to guide home a soft goal off his thigh.

In the 58th minute Spurs' fragile defence was exposed again when Cyrille Regis pressed deep into the box, nudging the ball wide for Dwight Yorke to bury his shot past Walker.

Spurs' hopes were lifted when Paul Walsh won the penalty when he was upended by McGrath.

But then came the first of two match-winning saves from Villa hero Nigel Spink. The Villa keeper guessed right with a low dive to keep out Lineker's spot kick down the middle.

That took the wind out of Spurs and their defence finally disappeared altogether, conceding two goals in the final three minutes.

Sub Tony Daley was the first to take advantage, rounding off a simple move with a sweet shot past Walker - then Regis completed the rout.