Tottenham Hotspur closed in on a place in the Europa League knockout stages with a hard-earned 2-0 win away to Moldovan champions Sheriff Tiraspol on Thursday.
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It was a hard-earned win for Andre Villas-Boas' side, with Sheriff applying plenty of pressure, but ultimately the Premier League team's class shone through.
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Villas-Boas made wholesale changes to the Spurs team that had beaten Aston Villa on domestic duty on Sunday but the visitors needed just 12 minutes to open the scoring.
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On their first attack, captain for the night Jan Vertonghen headed home Christian Eriksen's cross to settle Tottenham down on the tricky trip to Transnistria, a territory that claims independence from Moldova itself.
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A Sheriff side with a heavy African and Brazilian influence might have drawn level moments later but Vlad Chiriches made a stunning last-gasp clearance to stop Luvannor Henrique from scoring after rounding Hugo Lloris.
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The hosts then had a goal disallowed but they remained very much in the contest until Jermain Defoe made sure of the win in the 75th minute with a deflected strike that saw him equal Martin Chivers' record of 22 European goals for Spurs.