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The Bulgarian pounced to turn home Aaron Lennon's cross and round off a fine counter-attack.

The goal was no more than Tottenham deserved, as they outfought a strangely toothless Portsmouth side who looked a shadow of the team who won handsomely at Aston Villa last week.

The result takes Tottenham above Reading into 12th position, while Portsmouth drop to seventh.

Juande Ramos' side had edged a largely disjointed first half, but their defensive frailties kept Porsmouth's attacking trio of John Utaka, Sulley Muntari and Benjani working enthusiastically to capitalise on any possible errors.

It was Utaka who enjoyed the first - and perhaps most clear-cut - chance of the first period. He timed his run in behind the Spurs back four perfectly and latched onto a delightful clipped pass over the top from Pedro Mendes, though his volley lacked venom and was comfortably dealt with by Paul Robinson.

Spurs' first effort of note came from Darren Bent, who sent a right-foot shot fizzing over the far top corner.

The Pompey defence's fine discipline was reflected in Jermaine Jenas' over-ambitious effort from all of 45 yards midway through the half, though soon after Spurs did have the ball in the back of the net through Steed Malbranque, only to see the linesman's flag correctly raised.

Robinson made a decent stop from a low Muntari free-kick, before a last-ditch tackle from Sol Campbell denied Berbatov a golden opportunity at the other end.

Portsmouth replaced one former Spurs midfielder with another at half-time as Mendes made way for Sean Davis, though the home side missed the Portuguese midfielder's range of passing.

Lennon still looks some way of the form he showed when bursting onto the scene two years ago, though his pace took him clear of the Pompey defence soon after the break, and it required a vital touch from David James to take the ball away from the head of the lurking Bent in the centre of the area.

While Portsmouth's Niko Kranjcar gave the Spurs midfield a busy afternoon with his range of passing and ability on the ball, the attacking trio in front of him were largely anonymous, and Muntari was withdrawn for David Nugent with half an hour remaining.

In the end it was left to youngster Jamie O'Hara, who had come on just minutes before in place of Kevin-Prince Boateng, to initiate the game's decisive move. He charged at the Portsmouth defence before spreading the ball wide to Lennon. He ran at Hermann Hreidarsson before clipping an inch-perfect cross to the far post for Berbatov, who made no mistake.

All eyes inevitably turned to the makeshift Spurs defence as the home fans prepared for their team to launch a ten-minute onslaught for an equaliser, but it never materialised.

Instead, it was Spurs who passed the ball around confidently in their opponent's half, and substitute Jermain Defoe almost rounded things off late on with a vicious right-foot shot that cannoned away off the near post.

MF / Eurosport