STOKE, England (AFP) – Jamaica striker Ricardo Fuller’s neat finish was good enough to give Stoke City a 1-0 win over Premier League strugglers Portsmouth at the Britannia Stadium yesterday.

Fuller’s turn and shot 16 minutes from time – his first Premier League goal of the season – came after a quick interchange of passes between Matthew Etherington and Dean Whitehead.

Pompey, who lost England goalkeeper David James to injury during the warm-up, had earlier seen Kevin-Prince Boateng’s eighth-minute penalty saved by Thomas Sorensen.

“I needed that goal to get my season started in terms of scoring,” Fuller told Sky Sports. “As a striker you get marked on scoring goals. It was a good plus for me and for the team as well.

“I did what I needed to do, turned nicely and put the ball past the ‘keeper and into the back of the net.”

Meanwhile, Jermain Defoe scored five goals including a seven-minute hat-trick as Tottenham overwhelmed Wigan 9-1 while Blackburn ended a run of five straight away defeats with a 2-0 victory at Bolton.

After Peter Crouch had given Spurs a ninth minute lead at White Hart Lane, Defoe took over with three strikes between the 51st and 58th minutes as Spurs went on to tie Manchester United’s Premier League record nine goals in a 9-0 victory over Ipswich in March 1995.

Aaron Lennon scored Spurs fifth, Defoe netted again in the 69th and 87th. Wigan goalkeeper Chris Kirkland scored an own goal and Niko Kranjcar added another in the final minute.

Paul Scharner replied for Wigan when Spurs were already three goals up and the Austrian appeared to control the ball with his hands before scoring.

Defoe tied the Premier League record for most goals in a game, matching Alan Shearer’s five for Newcastle against Sheffield Wednesday in September 1999 and Andy Cole for United in the game against Ipswich.

Tottenham moved level on points with third place north London neighbour Arsenal behind Chelsea and Manchester United who all played on Saturday. Chelsea outplayed Wolves 4-0 to stay five points clear at the top of the standings and Man United beat Everton 3-0 to capture second place from Arsenal which lost 1-0 at Sunderland.

Blackburn’s first away victory since a 2-1 win at Fulham in March of last season provided a tonic for manager Sam Allardyce, who is preparing to have surgery to widen a coronary artery. Allardyce missed this game and won’t be at the next two.

A minute after Bolton’s Matt Taylor had hit the bar with a free deflected kick, David Dunn fired Blackburn ahead in the 32nd with a first time lob into the far corner.

The second goal was a gift, however. Bolton defender Sam Ricketts tried to head a Blackburn through ball back to goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen. But the Finn had left his line to try and reach the ball and Ricketts’ header went into an empty net.

The victory meant that Blackburn climbed four places to 11th.