Tottenham looked behind with relief and forward with trepidation after Dion Dublin doused White Hart Lane's surge of optimism with an equaliser four minutes from time. All three teams below Spurs lost yesterday but Christian Gross's side will drop into the dread zone if they lose at Barnsley on Saturday.

The omens didn't look good yesterday, when in the second minute Spurs lost Moussa Saib when he was knocked momentarily cold by Viorel Moldovan. Moldovan escaped a booking and Gross sent on Colin Calderwood.

David Ginola had the clearest sight of goal for Spurs, the Frenchman again going it alone for much of the match.

When he shot in the first half - once after a thrilling 50-yard run past three opponents - the efforts went wide. When he crossed from right and then left, Coventry's goal miraculously remained intact. A Ramon Vega header hit the bar, only for Ruel Fox to head the rebound over; then Steve Ogrizovic, making his 500th League appearance for Coventry, turned aside another Vega header.

Ginola, wasteful or wonderful, was always in view; not so Nicola Berti, whose eye-catching contributions early on soon faded from sight. The Italian dramatically re-entered the picture after 67 minutes, soaring to head Ginola's corner high into the net, beyond even Ogrizovic's reach. Three home points seemed safe, with Les Ferdinand's introduction shortly after half-time reinvigorating his team-mates.

But there was still plenty of time for Spurs to live uneasily and the worst home fears were realised when a half clearance was neatly controlled by the initially "rested" Darren Huckerby, who found Dublin with enough space and time to take aim and deliver a low shot past Walker's left hand.

Tottenham: Walker, Fox, Nielsen, Armstrong (Ferdinand 54), Carr, Ginola, Vega, Campbell, Klinsmann, Saib (Calderwood 5), Berti. Subs not used: Grodas, Anderton, Scales. Booked: Berti, Calderwood. Goal: Berti 68.

Coventry: Ogrizovic, Shaw, Burrows, Breen, Whelan, Dublin, Telfer, Hall (Soltvedt 65), Nilsson, Moldovan (Huckerby 60), Strachan (Boland 73). Subs not used: Hedman, Williams. Booked: Telfer, Hall, Huckerby. Goal: Dublin 86. Att: 33,463.

Referee: M A Riley (Leeds).