Tottenham began their defence of the Carling Cup with a 2-1 win at Newcastle. The bottom two teams in the Premiership served up a poor display in front of a sparse St James' Park crowd.

Newcastle scored a late consolation by Michael Owen but defensive mistakes had allowed Spurs to score twice through Roman Pavlyuchenko and Jamie O'Hara.

Tottenham assistant coach Gus Poyet believes the performance was encouraging encouraging.

"We have gone three games now without losing which is important for the players," he told Sky Sports 2.

"We can only check on the Premier League table and it looks bad but we are getting there.

"We changed a few things and I was pleased with the performance. I am very happy for the players."

Asked if it could be a turning point for Spurs' season, Poyet added: "I hope so. It has to be because we now go back to the Premier League and we need points."

Poyet added: "Every single competition is important to us. We are going to try and win it (the Carling Cup), but the problem is not to get carried away with the cups and forget about the league.

"We must take every game as it comes and try to win, that is the key."