Manchester City saw their European hopes extinguished by a late Robbie Keane penalty in a 2-1 defeat at Tottenham. Jermain Defoe opened for the home side but City hit back when sub Valeri Bojinov rifled home.

But Robbie Keane beat Shay Given from the spot on 86 minutes after Micah Richards had brought down Fraizer Campbell.

City boss Mark Hughes told the club's official web site: "The ref (Mark Halsey) has made a really poor decision that has cost us the game and it's really disappointing. There have been games this season where we've not deserved to get anything, but that wasn't the case today.

"I've no idea why he's given it. It was a speculative ball into Shay Given's hands, never a clear-cut goalscoring opportunity. Maybe the angle the referee had made him appear closer to the ball than he was.

"That's the only excuse I can give him, because fundamentally that's a very poor decision. I banged on the ref's door as I went past! But I don't think there's any point trying to speak to him about it."

Hughes said: "We would have loved to be back in Europe and that's obviously not going to be the case now.

"We were much better in the second half. First half we were tentative and allowed Spurs to dictate, so they had the momentum, but after the break we were a lot more positive and got back to 1-1.

"We were all pleased for Boji, it was important that he got back on the goalscoring trail and everybody saw what it meant to him. With three minutes to go, we felt we were the team most likely to score."

Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp, unsurprisingly, saw it differently.

"We dominated the first half and came in at half-time feeling we should have been out of sight.

"In the second half we never got going and lost our way a bit.

"But we got the penalty in the end and I thought it was nailed-on because the lad clambered all over him. We've been on a great run."