Just when it looked as though the sky was about to fall in on Tottenham, a shaft of sunlight broke through the clouds of their gloomy season last night at White Hart Lane.

Realists will quickly point out that this victory was only against Second Division Fulham, but after all their recent problems on and off the pitch the north London club will take hope where they can find it.

And a fourth-round tie against Barnsley, one of only two teams Spurs have beaten in the league during Christian Gross's short and trouble-strewn reign as head coach, now offers Tottenham a decent chance of progressing in a competition which has lit up many a dark season at White Hart Lane.

"This will help everyone psycholigically," said Jurgen Klinsmann with no understatement.

However, as one door opens another shuts. Spurs now have 15 players on the treatment table after David Ginola limped off just before the break with a recurrence of his hamstring injury, and the goalkeeper Ian walker departed with a shoulder strain. And next Saturday Spurs play at Manchester United.

They say that you can buy anything at Harrods, but Fulham will need to spend a few more million yet before they can realise Mohamed Al Fayed's dream of living in Premiership company.

They battled well, showed some neat touches and came close to However, they allowed Tottenham to get in too many crosses and at the back the marking was sloppy.

Though in the likes of Garry Brady, a 21-year-old midfielder making his debut, Spurs would seem to possess some able and willing reserves.

Had Ginola stayed on the pitch for the full game it is arguable that Fulham would have lost by an even greater margin. In the 43 minutes the in-form Frenchman was on the pitch the home side's defence never got to grips with the way he and Jose Dominguez burst from deep on either wing to service Klinsmann as the lone striker.

Spurs went ahead on 20 minutes through a typical surge from the little Portuguese, whose cross from the right found Stephen Clemence in the area.

Another promising young midfielder, he pushed the ball at the defender Alan Neilson who half blocked it. But Clemence pounced on the richochet and fired home his first goal for the club, a proud moment for his watching father, Ray, the former England spurs goalkeeper.

Eight minutes later Spurs were 2-0 ahead. Ramon Vega, on the near post, chested down Clemence's corner and was allowed the space to turn and fire the ball across the face of goal where it hit Colin Calderwood's thighs and went in from all of three yards.

Two incidents soon lifted Fulham's optimism. On 36 minutes Paul Trollope hit the post with a free-kick, and then Ginola departed.

Encouraged and with nothing to lose, Fulham emerged from the break with renewed zest and nine minutes after the restart they reaped their reward with a well-deserved goal.

The full-back Matthew Lawrence made pogress down the right before arrowing a pacey cross into the area and Neil smith, the captain of Spurs 1989 FA Youth Cup winning side, nipped between two defenders to score not only against his old side but his first for Fulham.

In recent games Spurs' heads have wilted on conceding a goal, but though Lawrence went close to equalising, Tottenham quickly hit back to further extend their lead.

Again Dominguez burst down the wing and put in a cross which the impressive midfield debutant Garry brady headed against the post. The fulham goalkeeper Maik Taylor dropped the rebound and in trying to gather the ball again, pushed it over the line.

Klinsmann then twice went close for spurs and Paul Peschisolido, the Second Division's first £1 million players, did likewise for Fulham. But in the end this was a rare comfortable win for Tottenham.

Gary Brady reflected with satisfaction on a memorable Tottenham debut, after scoring Spurs' final goal to help seal their passage into the fourth.

"I was glad to make my debut and get a goal as well, so it was a good start to the new year," said Brady.