Ten-man Tottenham Hotspur booked their place in the semi finals of the Carling Cup with a 2-0 victory over Manchester City at Eastlands.

Despite playing 70 minutes with the one man disadvantage, Spurs did enough to ensure City's 100 percent home record was finally ended with goals from Jermain Defoe and Steed Malbranque.

The visitors were all over City in the early stages of the match with Aaron Lennon in particular causing havoc down the right wing and the hosts' midfield failing to gain any kind of possession.

The early pressure paid off in just the fifth minute when Juande Ramos' side took the lead in the simplest of fashions. Jermaine Jenas split the City defence with a pass out to the right for Lennon, who cut inside before finding Defoe who tapped home from close range.

Spurs continued to run riot with Steed Malbranque almost doubling their lead six minutes later after receiving the ball from Lennon. The Frenchman had acres of time and space in which to decide whether to go for goal or pass to the waiting Jenas but took too long and ended up tapping the ball straight to the incoming Richard Dunne.

Referee Steve Bennett seemed happy to disrupt the play right from the off and quickly made his mark on the match brandishing the red card to give Didier Zokora his marching orders for a challenge on Elano.

Admittedly the two-footed challenge will never be considered the smartest decision of the Ivory Coast midfielder's career but, having successfully made contact with the ball and having failed to make any contact with Elano, Zokora was unfortunate to be shown a straight red.

Pascal Chimbonda was shown a yellow card for unsporting behaviour in the aftermath of the sending off before Defoe, who must be wondering what he has to do to retain his place in Ramos' side, was taken off in favour of Teemu Tainio despite scoring on his first start since October.

Malbranque was extremely lucky to remain on the field after a two-footed challenge on Vedran Corluka just five minutes later. The Frenchman escaped with a yellow, one of six wielded by a card-happy Bennett.

With the one-man advantage City began to make their presence felt more and more, particularly in midfield where they enjoyed considerable success. But Sven-Goran Eriksson's men still failed to turn their possession into goals although Elano came closest just after the half hour mark.

The Brazilian received the ball from Javier Garrido on the edge of the box before a neat little one-two with Martin Petrov left him with a gilt-edged chance at the equaliser. But Elano dragged the ball across the front of the box and missed right much to the relief of the flailing Paul Robinson.

But in the only real action in the rest of the half, Jenas was booked for simulation in the City box after minimal contact from Michael Johnson while Dunne received the fourth yellow of the half for a late challenge on Chimbonda.

The second half began as the first had finished with a yellow card being shown by Bennett, this time to Johnson although, as with Jenas, it was for simulation.

Robinson made the save of the night early in the second half denying Darius Vassell the equaliser that could have changed the entire look of the game. The England keeper made a fine reaction save from close range while Robinson and Younes Kaboul combined to clear off the line from Rolando Bianchi in the 75th minute.

Much of the second half was played out in midfield with Manchester City desperately trying to get back in the game while Spurs continue to frustrate displaying an unusually solid defence.

Spurs even continued to create chances despite having the one man disavantage. Substitute Jamie O'Hara almost made himself the dream replacement just four minutes after coming on when he was chased a ball through the City defence with only Joe Hart to beat.

Hart only just beat O'Hara to the ball to deny him but the 21-year-old got another chance to prove his worth playing an instrumental part in the visitors' second goal.

Lennon found O'Hara ahead of him on the right of midfield before the youngster fired an inch-perfect pass across field to the waiting Malbranque.

The Frenchman did well to bring the ball down and under control with his first touch before seeing off the attention of Dunne and calmly slotting the ball past Hart.

Tainio and Kaboul were again called into action late in the match as City desperately looked for at least a consolation goal but Spurs stood firm to book a deserved place in the last four of the competition.

Pippa Davis / Eurosport