Tottenham Hotspur are beating Aston Villa 1-0 at Villa Park in the Capital One Cup.
Tottenham started strongly with record signing Erik Lamela playing in Harry Kane, but Villa's Nathan Baker was able to clear the ball.
Vlad Chiriches then tried to find Jermain Defoe but his driven pass rolled through to Jed Steer.
Spurs were causing Villa plenty of problems with Lamela at the heart of their good work. First the former Roma player set up Defoe who saw his blast blocked, then he curled wide from 20 yards after a one-two with Harry Kane.
Marc Albrighton almost snatched the lead for Villa with a low drive which forced Brad Friedel to save down to his left.
However, Spurs were back on the attack moments later but again failed to convert, although this time it was down to good goalkeeping from Steer who palmed away Defoe's hit.
Kane then dragged wide from 25 yards and Albrighton had a similar effort at the other end.
Spurs's dominance continued toward the end of the half and Steer again had to be alert to tip over Lamela's shot after Lewis Holtby's reverse pass.
However, it was 1-0 just before half time as Defoe headed in Holtby's cross.
Gary Peters
