Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas was overcome with emotion after watching his players deliver him his first home win in charge against QPR.
With his team 1-0 down at half-time, Spurs left the field to a chorus of boos but they regrouped after the break and put in a much-improved performance to leave White Hart Lane with three points thanks to a strike from Jermain Defoe and an own goal from Alejandro Faurlin.
Villas-Boas’ team had drawn 1-1 in their previous Barclays Premier League home games against West Brom and Norwich, while three disallowed goals prevented the Portuguese from registering his first victory in north London against Lazio on Thursday night.
His sheer joy on Sunday was therefore understandable to see as he punched the air with glee having watched his team close out a nervy last 20 minutes to secure a second consecutive league victory against an impressive QPR side.
“We have wanted this home win for some time but for whatever reason it has escaped us,” Villas-Boas said.
“It’s an important win for the team. We wanted to repay the fans for the trust they have put in us so that’s why everyone felt emotional at the end.”
Tottenham’s first-half performance was on a par with the horror show that the team produced against Norwich.
There was little confidence and fluency in the team and Gareth Bale looked redundant at left-back, where he started in place of the injured Kyle Naughton.
The tense atmosphere inside White Hart Lane turned to an angry one after 33 minutes when Faurlin carved open the hosts’ back four to allow Bobby Zamora to tap home against his former club.
Had Brad Friedel not pulled off two excellent saves from Clint Hill and Junior Hoilett it could have been 3-0 to the away side at half-time.
Villas-Boas did not lose faith in his team, however, and insists he was not tempted to give his players the hair-dryer treatment at the break.
“It was very, very calm at half-time,” the Portuguese said.
“I think the players really put on more of a show in second half.
“The big difference was the desire.”
In the end it took two goals in 95 seconds to win the game for Spurs as QPR folded in the second half.
First Steven Caulker’s cross-box header flew in via the chest of Faurlin and Defoe added a quick second when he reacted well to Bale’s shot, which cannoned off the bar into the England international’s path.
The calmness with which Defoe stroked the ball home typified a striker in supreme confidence, and not one whose position at the club was in doubt, as was the case all summer.
“He [Defoe] is performing at the top level,” Villas-Boas said.
“He has had his opportunities this season and he is taking them tremendously.
“This summer I had conversations with him and his agent and told them that I am a person who respects people who are performing well and he deserved a lot of credit for the goals he scored last season.
“This season he is facing tough competition from [Emmanuel] Adebayor and Clint Dempsey, but he keeps on performing. The competition is making him tick.”
QPR, meanwhile, remain without a win despite a summer spending spree that saw Mark Hughes bring the likes of Esteban Granero and Julio Cesar to the club.
The west Londoners are second from bottom of the table, but Hughes was happy with his team’s performance.
“I thought we deserved to win, absolutely,” the Rangers boss said.
“In the first half we dominated proceedings. It was only 1-0 because of Brad Friedel.
“Then they went 4-4-2 in the second half and tried to press the game, they got a break at the right time obviously with an own goal which lifted them.”
Hughes was unhappy that referee Phil Dowd did not give at least one foul in the run up to Spurs’ second goal, however.
“For the second we are very disappointed with the referee,” he added.
“In the build up, there was a clear foul on Esteban Granero then an even more blatant foul on Nedum Onuoha. As he is running back towards his goal he gets taken out, but the referee didn’t think it even warranted a free kick.”
One area of concern for Hughes was that Jose Bosingwa hobbled off after three minutes with a hamstring injury.
“When you feel something as immediately as that it’s likely to be a grade one or possibly a grade two (strain).
“We’ll get him scanned and hopefully it will be slightly better news than what we fear at the moment.”