Daryl Murphy snatched a 1-1 draw and point for Sunderland with a last-ditch equaliser to dent Tottenham's Champions League charge.
Robbie Keane's eighth goal of the season looked to have given Spurs all three points at the Stadium of Light.
But the ex-Waterford United star, who left the RSC last spring, struck with barely a minute remaining to claim his first senior goal for the club and take his side's points tally into double figures.
Spurs were not significantly better than their hosts but they looked to have made their class tell in the areas that mattered before Murphy intervened, although Liam Lawrence and Kevin Kyle both went close as the home side rallied after the break.
Mick McCarthy's side have now gone 14 league matches at the Stadium of Light without a win, collecting only four points, but much of that was forgotten on the final whistle as the red and white faithful at last had something to celebrate.
In reality, Sunderland's future has been in little doubt for some time – they are heading back to the Coca-Cola Championship barring a recovery of miraculous proportions and they will be there sooner rather than later.
Even McCarthy admitted in the run-up to the match that, although he has not given up hope, his main focus now is to better the record low 19 points with which they slipped out of the top flight three years ago.
Sadly for him, even that could be a tall order.
The Black Cats' problems were illustrated graphically inside the first 45 minutes of this contest: they did not play particularly badly but they lacked the pace and guile to consistently hurt Tottenham.
Spurs were neat and tidy with Michael Carrick barely having to break sweat to control the central midfield battle and with Jenas and Aaron Lennon buzzing behind the lively front two, were always a threat without ever really finding top gear.
However, when they did so it was with devastating effect - Defoe racing away after 38 minutes with the help of a generous offside decision to deliver an inch-perfect cross just ahead of Kelvin Davis' dive for Keane to side-foot home.
Keane had earlier passed up two good opportunities and Lennon had forced a good save from Davis but there were half-chances too at the other end as Tommy Miller, Julio Arca and Jon Stead, still looking for his first Sunderland goal, all went close.
Christian Bassila made way for 20-year-old Grant Leadbitter at the break and the Black Cats started in positive mood with Lawrence having a weak left-foot shot hacked away and Kyle and Stead both making their presence felt.
Sunderland were enjoying plenty of possession but doing little with it and as time wore on so did their chances of clawing their way back into the game.
However, they went within inches of an equaliser after 62 minutes when Stead broke into space on the left and saw Paul Robinson fail to collect his low cross, although unlike Keane, Lawrence could not convert the loose ball.
Murphy, a 75th-minute replacement for Lawrence, forced a regulation save from Robinson within seconds of his arrival but Kyle should have done better when he sent a stinging half-volley wide seven minutes from time.
But Murphy got his reward with a minute remaining when he muscled his way past Paul Stalteri on the left and drilled the ball under Robinson for snatch a point.
Jenas might have won it at the death but he fired high over on the turn to leave the Sunderland fans with something to cheer.
McCarthy insisted his strugglers were worthy of the point.
He said: 'I think justice was done with the result, we played well enough for a point. The players have kept going for me all the time and they got their reward.'
'Daryl has been knocking on the door for a game and he's done it for us today, it's great.'
