STUART PEARCE's policy of zero tolerance continues to pay dividends as Nottingham Forest climbed out of the relegation zone for the first time since October 19th.

"Don't mess me about," he told his team before his first game in charge as caretaker manager and so far they have taken him at his word. But yesterday's victory, their fourth in a row, owed little to determination or skill, and a lot to the fact that Tottenham Hotspur were reduced to 10 men after comfortably taking the lead.

Ramon Vega got a red card in his second game for Tottenham, for a blatant punch on Colin Cooper.

That took place on the stroke of half-time in a woeful game that was in danger of drowning in the Nottingham drizzle. Vega's dismissal completely changed the picture, giving an ineffective Forest side parity with their visitors for the first time in the match.

At half-time Tottenham brought on Clive Wilson for the young striker Rory Allen, in preparation for an all-out defence of their lead, but it was Scot Gemmill's replacement of David Phillips on Forest's right flank that proved the more significant change.

In the first minute of the second hall, a cleverly worked move down the right saw Des Lyttle put in a low cross and Bryan Roy just get enough of a touch on the ball to direct it past Ian Walker for his first Premiership goal this season.

With Tottenham's lack of numbers giving them little option except to back-pedal in order to protect their goalkeeper, Forest were able to seize the midfield initiative and they scored again in the 62nd minute again through Roy and amid some controversy.

Mark Crossley in the Forest goal palmed out a rasping shot from David Howells and as the home side tried to get the ball clear, Andy Sinton was fouled by Gemmill. As play continued Chris Bart-Williams, for once doing something out of the ordinary, advanced into space on the edge of the Tottenham penalty area and let fly with a low shot. Walker pushed the ball aside but only into the path of Roy, who was not about to turn down the invitation of an open goal.

Sinton meanwhile, limped off injured, leaving his manager fuming. "It was a very poor decision to say the least," Gerry Francis said. The referee should have blown up, he added, once Spurs had lost the advantage. Referee Jeff Winter only fuelled the debate by then booking Gemmill.

Roy has been critical of his treatment at the hands of the caretaker-manager but Pete Edwards, the fitness trainer who has been handling the Forest press conferences, said Pearce had dealt with the matter in private and whatever was said certainly seemed to have worked.

Tottenham had taken the lead just after the kick-off when Allan Nielsen's long throw from the right seemed to confound the Forest defence and after Sinton waved a foot at it, the ball was next seen nestling in the corner of Crossley's net.

With the exception of a 30-yard shot from Pearce, tipped around the post by Walker, Forest's threat was minimal for the rest of the first half until Vega's sending off. The £3.7 million Swiss defender had already been booked for refusing to move back at a freekick he had given away for handball. Then, in the 45th minute, a goal-bound shot from Cooper was cleared off the line by Howells and in the resulting melee Cooper and Vega clashed. The referee called the pair over, booked Cooper, and Vega was sent on his tearful way down the tunnel.

"Ramon was trying to come out, Cooper pulled him back and Vega went like that ... said Francis, whip ping his left arm out and back. The visitors had a chance to get the point they deserved in the last minute when substitute Ronny Rosenthal broke clear, but Crossley's plunge foiled him at the last.

Pearce will make a decision on whether to take the management job at Forest within two weeks, said Edwards. The caretaker has two goals in mind: selection for the England squad to face Italy to be announced on January 30th, and to stabilise the club until one of the mooted takeovers can inject funds for fresh players.

"I would hope that with bids being placed, we will be in a position to call another extraordinary general meeting for early to mid-February," said the chairman Irving Korn.