It is a sign of Spurs’ progress this season that the most frequent comment I heard from supporters as we filed out of White Hart Lane today was that this was our most important win yet. Everyone was still buzzing from Aaron Lennon’s last gasp winner against Birmingham that preserved our 100% record, but there was no giddy talk of breaking into the top 4. Instead there was a clear recognition that games were getting harder because teams were now gunning for Spurs, and yet the team still pulled through.

The five teams we have played have stretched Spurs in different ways. We proved that we could compete against the top 4 by beating Liverpool; then we showed our ruthlessness by thrashing Hull; against West Ham, we had to come from behind in a London derby; and our second stringers showed their hunger in the mid-week romp against Doncaster. But today’s match against Birmingham was possibly the toughest test so far.

In the first half, it seemed that Birmingham had parked one of their fans coaches in their own half. They played almost with 10 men behind the ball at any one time and this strategy was effective in choking off the free-flowing football that had been a hallmark of Spurs’ opening fortnight. Nonetheless, Spurs still managed to get close on a few occasions, particularly as Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Luka Modric exploited the space left vacant by the Birmingham defence who were more preoccupied with filling the right midfield with numbers to stop Lennon’s electric runs.

At half-time, the Spurs support was getting impatient and frustrated by the lack of goals. In the past, some would have started booing the team off at half-time but our string of wins has brought a quiet sense of self-belief to the players and the support.

This self-belief was soon shaken to the core. First, the defensive talisman who can only jog 20 minutes per week, Ledley King was substituted at half-time after picking up a groin injury. Then soon after, the midfield creator Modric had to limp off the pitch with what looked like a very worrying injury.

Ironically, the replacement of the mercurial Modric by the much-maligned Crouch opened up the game. We suddenly found a way behind the Birmingham defence as the Beanpole launched an aerial assault on Joe Hart’s goal. Only the cross-bar and some off-the-line clearances saved Birmingham.

Peter Crouch about to send yet another header into the Birmingham goal.

When the breakthrough finally arrived, Spurs’ lead was shortlived as a defensive mixup gave Birmingham an equaliser. The crowd’s frustration was compounded when hotshot Jermain Defoe had to be taken off because of injury.

But just when our 100% record seemed to be coming to an end, a mistake on the half-way line by Spurs old boy Stephen Carr, gave Tom Huddlestone, who had been quiet in the second half, the chance to release Roman Pavlyuchenko. The Russian, who has been bristling at the thought of being fourth choice striker, at least made a major contribution by finding Lennon on the opposite side. The impish winger skipped past two defenders and drove a low hard shot just inside Joe Hart’s near post.

Cue scenes of delirium in the stands. Strangers hugged each other in joy, although no one hugged me — they probably thought I was some tourist who had bought a ticket from a scalper in Chinatown. It did not help that I spent much of the game taking photos.

Lastly, you should also spare a thought for the Birmingham players who had fought so hard for 94 minutes only to leave London without a point. Most of the City players could only collapse on the pitch in complete agony as the Spurs team celebrated.

Birmingham players enjoying the lush playing surface at White Hart Lane.