The heavy rain in London over the weekend provided an extra zip to the pitch that suited the two passing teams as Spurs moved up to 12th place.
Match-winner Robbie Keane was in no doubt as to what the win meant to the club.
"It gives us a massive boost," he said afterwards. "It was not the most entertaining of games but we needed those points.
"When I got up this morning and looked at the table I was surprised to see how far down the table we were."
Helder Postiga almost scored a dramatic opener but he wasted a great opportunity with just three minutes gone when he shot wide under pressure after Keane's intelligent flick sent him clean through.
His miss in front of goal in the second half led to him being substituted with 20 minutes to go and the home supporters showed their disappointment in the young Portuguese player.
Thomas Hitzlsperger went close for the visitors in the first half when he hit a 20-yard drive inches wide of the far post with Kasey Keller well-beaten and Mauricio Taricco almost gave the home side the advantage just a minute before the break.
The game looked certain to end goalless until the visitors took the lead through Marcus Allback as he notched up his first Premiership goal of the season.
Second-half substitute Rohan Ricketts got the home side level within minutes of replacing Postiga when he slotted the ball low into the bottom corner of the net after a good turn had lost the attentions of his marker.
Keane got the winner by dancing his way through the defence and sweeping the ball past a stranded Thomas Sorensen.