Jermain Defoe scored twice for Tottenham
The Tottenham forward had two stunning goals for Spurs Reuters

Jermain Defoe ripped two fantastic strikes, and almost had a hat trick, but Tottenham Hotspur managed perhaps a fortunate road draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineaux Stadium.

The match was controversial for two officiating decisions. First, a penalty in the first half resulted in only a yellow card for Allen Hutton.

But more surprising was a goal that was denied by official Mark Halsey in the 80th minute. Wolves' Richard Stearman appeared to bump the ball in after a collision with Brazilian goalkeeper Gomes, but apparently to protect the keeper, it was ruled a foul by Stearman.

However, justice perhaps was served minutes later. Steven Fletcher scored a header to equalize the match in the 87th minute off a cross from Matthew Jarvis. This one stood, and Wolves managed a draw.

Tottenham led for most of the second half. After Wolves tied the game before halftime with a penalty kick, Tottenham got the lead right back after the break.

Tottenham regained the lead just three minutes after halftime. Somewhat similar to Defoe's goals, Roman Pavlyuchenko's left-footed shot from just inside the box to the high center of the goal was a superb goal for the Russian, and it put Spurs ahead 3-2.

In the 65th minute, Wolverhampton had a great chances to tie, but Gomes gave a boarding-house reach that tapped a Nenad Milijas blast that would also hit the post.

Milijas had another opportunity 10 minutes later, but the Serbian couldn't get his foot on the ball off a slide in the box.

In a match that featured plenty of shots, both goalkeepers were tested. On all three Tottenham goals, Wolves goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey had little to no chance to get his hand on the ball.

In an up-tempo first half, Wolverhampton and Tottenham each scored two goals with all four coming from Wolves forward Kevin Doyle and Tottenham's Defoe.

Doyle got the scoring started in the 20th minute with a header off a cross from Milijas, and thanks to questionable goalkeeping by Brazilian Gomes.

Doyle followed his goal 20 minutes later with a penalty goal, to equalize the match. Had Tottenham defender Hutton been sent off, the Wolves would have had a great advantage at home for the next 50 minutes.

But the man of the match was Jermain Defoe. The 28-year-old striker scored two stunning goals for Spurs, one in the 30th minute, and the second in the 40th. Both shots from the Tottenham star were just inside the crossbar and struck from outside the box.

Defoe almost had a hat trick, but his right-footed shot in the 84th minute hit the post.

Not only did Tottenham get the draw, but they also saw the return of Gareth Bale as a substitute. The Welsh left wing has been nursing a back injury.

Bale almost scored in the 78th minute when he split defenders and got a shot on goal that was blocked by Hennessey.