SO much for transforming Ewood Park into a fortress.

Blackburn Rovers' five-match unbeaten run crumbled like a sandcastle at high tide as Tottenham Hotspur pulled off the perfect heist to ease their own relegation fears.

Robbie Keane's solitary strike in the 56th minute was enough to seal Rovers' fate on a day when they never got out of first gear.

Worryingly for Mark Hughes, Rovers have now won just five of their last 27 Premiership games at Ewood and Hughes knows urgent home improvements are needed if all the hard work of the previous few weeks is not to go to waste.

This was a golden opportunity for Rovers to put some clear daylight between themselves and the bottom three, particularly as West Brom, Norwich and Southampton had all tasted defeat earlier in the day.

But when the chips were down, Hughes' side were simply not good enough to unlock a stubborn Spurs defence as the curse of Ewood struck once again.

"It's a concern," said Hughes, referring to the fact his side have only won once on home territory all season.

"We need to improve our home form. It's something that's dragging on and we need to address it and start winning games.

"You have to have good home form. You expect good home form but it's proving hard to come by."

Rovers' inadequacies at Ewood stem back to last season under Graeme Souness when they couldn't buy a home win in the Premiership.

Without someone like Damien Duff to get behind opposition defences, they struggle to force the pace on home territory, which is why you can count the number of wins in the last 18 months on one hand.

At times, Rovers look decidedly ordinary at home and this was one such occasion.

There was no invention in the final third, particularly from the flanks where Steven Reid and Brett Emerton were peripheral figures on the day.

And on the odd occasion when Rovers did look threatening, the quality of the final ball let them down badly.

It was crying out for a bit of magic from Youri Djorkaeff but sadly the Frenchman was unavailable due to a hamstring injury.

As a result, Rovers were predictable and one-dimensional going forward - a complete contrast from last week's effervescent performance at Fulham.

You've got to give Spurs credit for the way they performed.

Martin Jol's team were nothing special but they showed a steely determination not to get beat - the exact same quality Rovers have been showing away from home recently.

They defended in two banks of four, which made it difficult for Rovers to play through them, and Ledley King and Noureddinne Naybet were immovable objects at the heart of their defence.

Once Keane broke the deadlock, Jol then decided to shut up shop in the closing stages by replacing the Irishman with an extra defender in the shape of Anthony Gardner.

Such a move doesn't make for great Saturday evening entertainment but it certainly proved effective as the Londoners won back-to-back Premiership games for the first time this season.

There was precious little for anyone to get excited about in a dire opening half hour.

The only 'action' of note was a spat between Paul Dickov and King, who became embroiled in a heated exchange after contesting possession by the touchline.

Moments later, Dickov then found himself in the book for clipping the heel of Naybet and the Rovers striker seemed to lose his edge after that.

Rovers' only chance of the half fell to Andy Todd, who volleyed wide from a quickly taken free-kick.

Spurs, in the meantime, briefly threatened on the break and Brad Friedel had to be alert to repel a shot from Michael Brown.

Five minutes before the interval, Keane then fed Jermaine Defoe but Friedel denied the England striker, the ball ending up on the roof the net.

Rovers emerged for the second half with more purpose and within 22 seconds of the restart, they had carved out their best opening of the match.

Dickov's cross from the left found Paul Gallagher with his back to goal but the striker spun in an instant and hooked a volley goalwards only for Paul Robinson to make an excellent flying save.

Spurs continued to look menacing on the break, though, as Pedro Mendes tested Friedel from distance.

Then disaster struck in the 56th minute as the Londoners broke the deadlock with a swift counter attack.

Tugay lost possession to Brown deep in Spurs' own half of the pitch and as the midfielder sped away, the Turk's desperate attempts to bring him down proved in vain.

Even then, Brown still had half of the field to run but he brushed off a flimsy challenge from Nissa Johansson and then navigated a way past Andy Todd as he cut across the area.

With Rovers in disarray, support arrived in the shape of Keane and Brown picked him out with a square pass, the Republic of Ireland international thumping a low drive past Friedel from penalty spot range.

From then on, it was always going to be difficult for Rovers to come back.

Jay Bothroyd, who was on as a substitute for Gallagher, went close with a header that crept wide of the post.

Then Naybet made a timely interception to deny Dickov from a yard out after Todd had headed an Emerton centre back across goal.

At the other end, Defoe had a chance to make the points safe but Friedel saved with his legs.

By now, David Thompson had entered the fray from the bench but even he couldn't supply the craft Rovers were so desperately missing.

Bothroyd blazed another effort high and wide before Rovers were awarded a free kick deep into injury time, right on the edge of the area.

As the Blackburn End held its breath, Steven Reid pulled the trigger but his shot crashed straight into the wall to sum up a miserable day.

"In all honesty, we didn't give the fans a great deal to cheer today," said Hughes afterwards.

"They were really desperate for us to have a passage of play so they could get behind us but it didn't materialise and it was a very poor game for a number of reasons."

So much for home comforts.

Tottenham (4-4-2): Robinson; Kelly, Atouba, Naybet, King; Ziegler, Carrick, Brown, Mendes; Defoe, Keane. Subs: Redknapp (for Ziegler, 73), Gardner (for Keane, 78), Kanoute (for Defoe, 88) Not used: Pamarot, Fulop

Referee: Mike Dean (Merseyside) 7

Bookings: Rovers; Tugay, Dickov, Thompson

Spurs; Naybet

Sendings off: None

Attendance: 22,182

Goals: 0-1 Keane, 56 mins

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