Dawson salvages point for Spurs

Captain Michael Dawson's first goal of the campaign rescued a deserved point for Tottenham in a 1-1 draw after they had exerted relentless second half pressure against Aston Villa.

Gabriel Agbonlahor had given Martin O'Neill's side a half-time lead with his eighth goal of the season.

But the second half was completely dominated by the visitors as Villa often dragged all 11 players behind the ball before Dawson broke their resistance.

After a lacklustre opening 45 minutes, Tottenham showed the kind of enterprise which had demolished Wigan 9-1 last weekend with Niko Kranjcar in excellent form yet again.

But the Villa defence is made of sterner stuff than the Latics with Carlos Cuellar again making a good impression to thwart Harry Redknapp`s side.

Friedel made the first save of the game, tipping a powerful drive from Kranjcar from just outside the box.

Then after nine minutes Agbonlahor put Villa ahead. James Milner's near-post corner was met by Cuellar whose header was blocked on the line by Benoit Assou-Ekotto but the loose ball broke to Agbonlahor who squeezed it home.

Cuellar came to Villa's rescue when he cleared a shot from Peter Crouch off the line after Friedel had kept out the initial attempt from the busy Jermain Defoe.

Villa began dropping off in their numbers as the game wore in a bid to protect their lead while Defoe was denied a leveller by the offside flag.

Their breakthrough came in the 78th minute when Dawson deservedly brought Spurs back on level terms when he fired an unstoppable shot past Friedel from the edge of the box.