We are a strange old team. Who else could have their worst start in a century and still reach Christmas unbeaten against the Big Four ? We ve even managed to survive all of those games being televised – usually a certain recipe for a disastrous Spurs p

We are a strange old team.

Who else could have their worst start in a century and still reach Christmas unbeaten against "the Big Four"?

We've even managed to survive all of those games being televised - usually a certain recipe for a disastrous Spurs performance.

Once again though we managed to perform in a manner that belied some of the other efforts that have left us closer to the bottom of the table than is comfortable.

With a hastily rearranged back four we managed to keep Dimitar Berbatov and Cristiano Ronaldo extremely quiet, with the crowd delighting in reminding them of that fact.

With the defence working so well in front of him, it meant another good day at the office for Heurelho Gomes and a further sign that he is getting back to full form and confidence.

As someone who was delighted at his signing, the weeks in which he struggled so badly were especially painful to watch, to the point where it looked like he was going to be hounded out.

But credit to the big man, he has hopefully turned the corner and looks more like the eccentric star who was so loved in Holland.

A few more saves like the one on Saturday and we'll be fighting to hold on to him rather than carting him off.

So having come through another stern test better than probably was expected, we now go into classic Tottenham territory with an inviting run of league fixtures - starting at Newcastle on Sunday -that bring that optimistic feeling that a winning streak is coming up.

Sadly, it never seems to work that way for us, and it's times like these we manage to look most inept.