STOKE midfielder Rory Delap revealed referee Mike Dean apologised to Andy Wilkinson for sending-off the defender – before doing just the same to team-mate Dean Whitehead.

Dean gave Wilkinson two yellow cards at Portsmouth in February, the last time the official took charge of a City game.

Wilkinson's second booking was harsh, although not costly as 10-man Stoke went on to win the game 2-1 at Fratton Park.

Sadly, the referee's decision was more important on Saturday when his second yellow card for Whitehead, on 49 minutes, left Stoke a mountainous task in a game they lost 2-1.

Whitehead became the third Stoke player to be sent of by Dean this season, also including Abdoulaye Faye at Hull in November.

Delap, below, felt Whitehead was unlucky to get his marching orders, but stopped short of suggesting the referee was judging City by reputation rather than their performances.

He said: "You would have to ask him that. This is the third player this season, but he apologised to Andy for the sending-off at Portsmouth, which was good of him.

"But hopefully he can leave our games now until the end of the season.

"Deano swung for the ball, missed it and Luka Modric more or less ran into him.

"It was a possible booking, but if anything is possible at the moment, it is going to get given against us.

"It was a clumsy swing at the ball and it was more Modric running into Deano, than Deano doing anything, but that's the way it is going for us."

Stoke could at least take some consolation from their display after being reduced to 10 men just three minutes after Eidur Gudjohnsen's opener.

They roared back to level from the spot on 64 minutes, thanks to Matthew Etherington, and could have taken the lead through Ricardo Fuller before Niko Kranjcar's 77th-minute strike gave Spurs victory.

Delap said: "We went behind to a sloppy goal, but came back again, but we can't keep having men sent off and try to hold on for half an hour.

"It is a good result for anyone to come and win here, because we don't make it easy for anyone.

"Even with 10 men, we didn't make it easy for Tottenham, but fair play to them for taking the points.

"We battled, but were lacking that bit of quality."

Results elsewhere mean Stoke are still 12 points clear of the relegation zone, on 36 points.

They have eight games left to overhaul the 45 points they achieved in their debut season in the Premier League last year.

Delap said: "Safety is first and foremost, but we are still on course to better what we did last season.

"If you are just going to survive every year it is not going to be much fun.

"You are not going to better yourself or better the club, which is what the manager and every player is trying to do."