Spurs come unstuck in Russia in Europa League

Tottenham failed to provide their absent manager Harry Redknapp with a Europa League win after his heart operation on Thursday, but former Spurs striker Peter Crouch was on the mark as Stoke won in Israel. Crouch's 64th-minute goal nine minutes after Dean Whitehead's opener earned Stoke a notable 2-1 victory at Maccabi Tel Aviv to put Tony Pulis's side on the verge of progressing to the round of 32 in their first European campaign in almost four decades. With three games in less than a week, Pulis made nine changes from the side that lost 3-1 to Newcastle on Monday, and the move paid off handsomely. The Israeli side had not been bettered at home in 12 European outings and the win lifted group leaders the Potters up to 10 points in Group E. Tottenham, in contrast, came away from their taxing 6,500 kilometre round trip to the outer reaches of the continent empty-handed after a 1-0 defeat at Rubin Kazan, with Redknapp keeping tabs on his mix of youngsters and veterans on television back home. The 64-year-old Spurs boss had earlier in the day been released from hospital after Wednesday's procedure to insert two stents to unblock coronary arteries, with assistant manager Kevin Bond and first team coach Joe Jordan taking charge in Tatarstan. The Russians dominated the first half and bagged the decisive goal 10 minutes into the second, with Israeli midfielder Bebras Natcho curling a fine free-kick from just outside the box past a motionless Carlo Cudicini. Rubin could have have pressed home their margin of superiority but for some diligent work from the Italian in the Londoners' goal. Spurs had been hoping to book their place in the round of 32 here with two matches remaining, but will now have to wait for their home game against Greek outfit PAOK Salonica or the trip to Dublin to take on Shamrock Rovers. After this mammoth trip, the Premier League high-fliers will be relishing the short hop across London to tackle Fulham at the weekend, a game for which the likes of Luka Modric, Scott Parker and Emmanuel Adebayor were saved. Former European champions PSV Eindhoven hosted another Tel Aviv side, Hapoel, but were made to fight, with Kevin Strootman's goal three minutes from time earning them a 3-3 draw. The stalemate kept them atop Group C on 10 points, one clear of Legia Warsaw. Lazio kept alive their hopes of escaping from Group D with a 1-0 home defeat of FC Zurich, which put them into second behind Sporting Lisbon, beaten in Romania by FC Vaslui. Atletic Bilbao maintained their place at the summit of Group F with a 1-0 win at Red Bull Salzburg. Paris Saint-Germain tightened their grip on second spot courtesy of Javier Pastore's sweet second-half volley, which gave the wealthy French outfit a 1-0 win over Slovan Bratislava.