HARRY Redknapp's past came back to haunt him on Saturday as Jermain Defoe hammered out a message to Sven-Goran Eriksson with a devastating hat-trick.

It was Redknapp who first spotted and nurtured the talents of Defoe at West Ham.

He was pivotal in his development - he handed him his Hammers debut in a League Cup tie at Walsall in early 2000/01, where Defoe scored the only goal, before sending him out on loan to Bournemouth in October of that year.

Defoe scored in his first 10 league matches for the Cherries and ended the season with 19 goals for the Dorset club.

Defoe has since gone onto big things - signing for Spurs for £7m during last January's transfer window, making his England debut against Sweden a few months later and scoring against Poland in September.

And with England boss Eriksson in the crowd, he did his chances of further international recognition no harm by scoring his first-ever professional league hat-trick and taking his Spurs Premiership tally to 16 in 30 starts plus two as a sub.

Spurs manager Martin Jol has vowed to keep Defoe, pictured above celebrating a goal on Saturday, despite inevitable interest in the January transfer window from the likes of Chelsea and said: "Defoe is a terrific player for us and he has a great future with Spurs."

Spurs went into Saturday's match in form having beaten high-flying Middlesbrough 2-0 at White Hart Lane in their previous home league match and also having won 1-0 at both Blackburn and Manchester City.

Jol added: "We've had three cleans sheets, so that has given us confidence and now this - if you score five goals you grow a bit.

"The Premier League is tough but, if you have a squad of good players and you grow in confidence, then you can get results."