Martin Jol defended Didier Zokora after he appeared to dive to win a penalty for Spurs.
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Tottenham manager Martin Jol defended midfielder Didier Zokora after he appeared to dive to win the penalty that gave Spurs their first win in The Premiership since August.
Zokora went down under a challenge from Pedro Mendes in the game against Portsmouth but television replays showed no contact between the pair.
Jermain Defoe stepped up to fire what would turn out to be the winner from 12 yards but Jol refused to condemn Zokora's actions that left Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp fuming.
"Seeing it now, he was possibly anticipating action from Pedro Mendes," Jol told Sky Sports.
"At the moment it happened I thought it was a penalty and so did the referee but in hindsight there was not any real contact.
"I guess he was off balance but we'll see it again in the morning.
"We don't want that sort of thing (diving) but this was different and I don't think Zokora did it on purpose but he didn't touch him to be honest."
Danny Murphy had given Spurs an early lead before Defoe's controversial second.
Kanu pulled a goal back for Pompey just before the break and Spurs were indebted to Paul Robinson's late save from Tresor Lomana Lua Lua for keeping the lead intact.
Jol added: "We made it difficult for ourselves because I thought in the first half we played some good stuff and scored early which helps obviously.
"They had a great chance late in the second half but it was a great save from Robinson.
"I knew it would be difficult but we stuck to it, the defence and goalkeeper were terrific and in the end on the chances I think we deserved to win."
