Van der Vaart was making his return from a hamstring injury and scored after 23 minutes before Jermain Defoe was, perhaps harshly, shown a red card four minutes later.

But Spurs dug in and Van der Vaart added a second after the break to ensure Marc Albrighton's late goal was just a consolation.

"It's always a difficult game, they've a very good team. It was very good win away with 10 men," Van der Vaart told Sky Sports 1.

"It was difficult, we were down to 10 men, but we did a great job and fought to the end."

Asked which goal he enjoyed most, the Dutchman added: "The second one. It was really important and then I had a feeling we were going to win this game."

Van der Vaart was making his return from a hamstring injury and scored after 23 minutes before Jermain Defoe was, perhaps harshly, shown a red card four minutes later.

But Spurs dug in and Van der Vaart added a second after the break to ensure Marc Albrighton's late goal was just a consolation.

"It's always a difficult game, they've a very good team. It was very good win away with 10 men," Van der Vaart told Sky Sports 1.

"It was difficult, we were down to 10 men, but we did a great job and fought to the end."

Asked which goal he enjoyed most, the Dutchman added: "The second one. It was really important and then I had a feeling we were going to win this game."