LONDON - Bottom club West Ham United's season took a bitter new twist today when they twice squandered the lead and lost 4-3 at home to London rivals Tottenham Hotspur in a dramatic Premier League game.
Paul Stalteri scored the winner deep in stoppage time after Tottenham hadbattled back from trailing 2-0 at halftime and then 3-2 with five minutes remaining.
Goals from Mark Noble and Argentine Carlos Tevez, his first since joining West Ham in August, had given the home side a deserved lead at the break.
Tottenham, who moved eighth with the win, dominated the second period and got back on level terms with a Jermain Defoe penalty and a volley from Finn Teemu Tainio.
Former Spurs striker Bobby Zamora came off the bench to head West Ham back in front after 83 minutes, only for Spurs to level again six minutes later with a curling free kick from Bulgarian Dimitar Berbatov.
In a frenetic ending Tevez went agonisingly close to snatching the win for West Ham before a Spurs counter-attack ended with Robert Green saving Defoe's shot only for Stalteri to ram in the rebound.
Defeat leaves West Ham bottom on 20 points from 29 matches, 10 points behind Manchester City who are six points above the relegation zone with two games in hand.
Earlier, Blackburn Rovers beat Bolton Wanderers 2-1 thanks to two second-half penalties from South African Benni McCarthy.
Nicolas Anelka grabbed a late consolation for Bolton who are in fifth with Blackburn in 10th.
Manchester United, 1-0 winners at Liverpool on Sunday, top the table, nine points ahead of Chelsea who won 2-0 at Portsmouth. Chelsea have a game in hand.
