It is a long way from Hull to Tottenham – 17 places, to be precise. Lightning struck for a second time in North London when Hull City followed their coupon-busting win away to Arsenal with their first success at White Hart Lane. This one was barely a surprise by comparison.

Another stunning goal by Geovanni, the Brazilian, secured victory and carried Hull to the rarefied heights of third place in a Barclays Premier League table that Tottenham are propping up. Hull paid nothing for their Geovanni, Tottenham spent £4.7 million on a substitute of nearly the same name – Giovani dos Santos. The early signs are that they may have got the wrong one.

Derby County had more points after seven matches of last season than Tottenham have managed this time. More worrying for an apparently helpless Juande Ramos, the Tottenham of Martin Jol made a better start to last season, too. Jol was out of work by the end of October. Ramos will be given time to fathom a solution, but he looks no closer to his best team.

White Hart Lane was as nervous as the money markets from the moment Geovanni propelled a searing, swinging free kick over the Tottenham wall past an admiring Heurelho Gomes after only nine minutes. If their first-half response to that early setback promised a recovery, their second-half display was laboured and lacking in conviction. They looked a beaten team long before the end.

Whereas Phil Brown, the prowling Hull manager, communicated clearly with his players throughout, Ramos seemed unable to get his message – whatever it was – across. He retains his flair for a bold change, sending on David Bentley as an attacking full back to supply better crosses from the right, but however you dress up his latest selection, Ramos is picking only one out-and-out striker. Tottenham have scored four times in seven league matches. Go figure.

“According to the statistics, Spurs had 23 or 24 shots, but the best chances of the game fell to Hull City,” Brown said.

Geovanni wasted a clear opening before his goal and Dean Marney struck a post late in the first half. While Tottenham dominated the second period territorially, Marlon King broke clear near the end, only to be foiled by the goalkeeper’s legs.

Against that, Andy Dawson cleared a goalbound shot by Gareth Bale in the opening minute, a curling free kick by Bale was then tipped on to the bar by Boaz Myhill, the Hull goalkeeper, and Jonathan Woodgate had a volley deflected on to an upright.

Jermaine Jenas tried manfully to stoke the Tottenham boilers, but Luka Modric resembled a little boy lost and an early ankle injury suffered by Roman Pavlyuchenko left no one any the wiser as to his capabilities. It merely exposed Darren Bent as the understudy he is at the highest level.

Fraizer Campbell, the Manchester United player smuggled in through Tottenham’s back door as a bit-part player in the Dimitar Berbatov saga, again played out of position. Last season he scored 15 goals while on loan to Hull as a forward. They even made a club-record bid to buy him in the summer. In the past week he has started his first two matches on loan to Tottenham on the left of midfield, while Bentley and Giovani have sat next to the manager on the bench. There are more questions than answers down the Lane at present.

Hull’s heroes were the workaday wonders that hauled them out of the Coca-Cola Championship in May. Michael Turner was the most defiant defender on view and Ian Ashbee, the captain, patrolled midfield putting out Tottenham fires and prompting and cajoling all around him. “If I’m honest, we are about three points ahead of schedule,” Brown said. Fourteen points from their first seven league matches – Brown’s remark was the only dishonest thing about Hull all afternoon.

Tottenham ratings (4-1-4-1)

H Gomes 6 C Gunter 7 V Corluka 5 J Woodgate 5 G Bale 6 D Zokora 6 A Lennon 6 J Jenas 6 L Modric 5 F Campbell 5 R Pavlyuchenko 4 Substitutes D Bent 5 (for Pavlyuchenko, 35min), D Bentley 7 (for Gunter, 55), Giovani dos Santos (for Lennon, 74). Not used C Sánchez, M Dawson, J O’Hara, B Assou-Ekotto.

Hull ratings (4-3-1-2)

B Myhill 8 P McShane 6 M Turner 9 K Zayatte 7 A Dawson 7 D Marney 7 I Ashbee 8 G Boateng 7 Geovanni 7 D Cousin 5 M King 5 Substitutes B Mendy 6 (for Cousin, 60min), P Halmosi (for Geovanni, 71), C Folan (for King, 86). Not used M Duke, B Hughes, R Garcia, S Ricketts.

Referee R Styles Attendance 36,062