Harry Redknapp was in great form last night. Unfortunately, for Tottenham Hotspur supporters, the same cannot be said of his team. As the Spurs manager laid into Steve Tanner, the referee, with a diatribe as entertaining as it is likely to earn an FA disrepute charge, the renaissance that Redknapp inspired at White Hart Lane is in danger of being undermined before the year has turned.

Tottenham are only two points above West Bromwich Albion in the Barclays Premier League after this deserved result. A run of one win in six league games leaves them above the relegation zone only on goal difference. Memories of “Harry Houdini” coming in and waving a magic wand appear somewhat distant now, even though he succeeded Juande Ramos only two months ago.

Redknapp had no complaint over the red card shown to Benoît Assou-Ekotto for an over-the-top tackle on Gianni Zuiverloon that left Spurs playing a man down for almost an hour. His chagrin sprang more from the push that Roman Bednar administered to Michael Dawson before scoring the goal, seven minutes from time, that sent West Brom towards their second home victory in a week. Mind you, Redknapp admitted that he took umbrage with the referee even before a ball had been kicked.

“I couldn’t even put into words what I thought of [Tanner’s] performance,” Redknapp said, before doing exactly that. “I walked into the referee’s room before the game and saw who was refereeing and I really knew what was coming. I expected that sort of performance. It didn’t surprise me at all. I had him before many times and I know what he’s like.

“He’s just a poor referee and I’ve seen him make a mess of so many games before that it didn’t surprise me. I saw him when I was in the [Coca-Cola] Championship and I thought to myself then, ‘Where has he come from?’ I don’t complain about referees. I never, ever walk in after a game and complain about a referee. I haven’t done for years. But this guy today was scary. He’s not up to the Premier League.

“Michael Dawson gets pushed in the back on the first goal and he doesn’t see it. What do you think Dawson has flown through the air for, when he’s headed every ball to-day? Everybody sees he got pushed, apart from the referee.”

Tottenham only mustered two shots on target, Scott Carson saving well from Darren Bent early on and from David Bentley in the second period.

Assou-Ekotto, stretching for a ball, went over the top on Zuiverloon and deserved to go. Didier Zokora, Tottenham’s midfield anchor, switched to left back and this meant Luka Modric dropping back from supporting Bent up front. Not only were Spurs a man down, their creativity was stunted.

Redknapp maintains that he has been priced out of the market in a bid to bring Jermain Defoe back to White Hart Lane while he must assess how much more than £6 million he wishes to bid for Craig Bellamy. Quite what Fraizer Campbell, the substitute introduced only belatedly yesterday, makes of his position in the rankings while on loan from Manchester United remains to be seen.

If Tottenham are losing momentum, yesterday’s opponents have finally regained theirs. After a winless sequence of ten games, Bednar has proved the goalscoring hero on two occasions either side of a regulation defeat away to Chelsea.

The Czech Republic striker has had to bide his time but, with Ishmael Miller out injured for the season, Tony Mowbray, the West Brom manager, has reverted to playing two up front and been rewarded on successive Sundays at The Hawthorns. Bednar headed the winner against Manchester City in stoppage time last weekend and yesterday he rose to shove Dawson away and head Marek Cech’s driven centre into the top corner.

Heurelho Gomes, the Tottenham goalkeeper, was in superb form, his tip-over of Chris Brunt’s free kick early in the second half the pick of some acrobatic saves. But there was nothing he could do about Craig Beattie’s goal, four minutes into stoppage time, after James Morrison, having been sent away by the excellent Cech, squared unselfishly.

Not that Mowbray will be getting carried away. “I like my team and the way we play,” he said. “We’ve competed in this league and while we’ve won two tight games this week, we’ve lost other tight games like this.

“In the second half of the season, we’ve got to make sure we win enough of these games, against the likes of Middlesbrough, Stoke, Bolton, Wigan, Newcastle and Sunderland. With the help of our supporters, we’ve got to make those uncomfortable days.”

West Brom (4-4-2): S Carson 7 G Zuiverloon 5 L Barnett 5 J Olsson 6 M Cech 8 J Morrison 7 J Greening 6 B Valero 5 C Brunt 5 R Bednar 6 L Moore 5 Substitutes: C Hoefkens (for Zuiverloon, 73min), C Beattie (for Valero, 80), G Dorrans (for Brunt, 65). Not used: D Kiely, Kim Do Heon, S MacDonald, R Donk. Next: Aston Villa (a).

Tottenham (4-4-1-1): H Gomes 8 V Corluka 6 J Woodgate 6 M Dawson 6 B Assou-Ekotto 6 D Bentley 5 D Zokora 6 J Jenas 5 A Lennon 7 L Modric 6 D Bent 5 Substitutes: J O’Hara (for Bentley, 70), G Bale (for Modric, 75), F Campbell (for Zokora, 87). Not used: C Gunter, A Taarabt, C Sánchez, J Obika. Next: Wigan (a).

Referee S Tanner Attendance 26,344