Tom Huddlestone today thanked Harry Redknapp for saving his Tottenham career.

The midfielder delivered one of his best performances in a Spurs shirt last night as he scored in the 4-0 UEFA Cup win over Dinamo Zagreb at White Hart Lane.

It was a different story three weeks ago when, under Juande Ramos's management, Huddlestone had started to consider leaving the club.

Huddlestone said: "If you're not playing, you always think about that [the future].

"If you're not getting in the team when they're winning, then it is fair enough. But if the team are losing and you are still not playing, then things do go through your mind. Under the previous manager, I had started only one game out of 12, which was very disappointing. But since Harry came in, I have played four out of four and we have done well, so hopefully it will continue.

"We knew we were still good players. We didn't become bad overnight and everyone has put aside our bad start to the season."

Huddlestone scored the third goal - a superb 30-yard volley from David Bentley's corner - and also set up hat-trick hero Darren Bent for Spurs' second and fourth goals.

Redknapp kept his pledge to send on John Bostock, who, at 16 years and 295 days, became the youngest player to feature in a competitive game for Spurs when he replaced Bentley with 11 minutes remaining.

Bostock joined Spurs in a controversial summer move from Crystal Palace, which could eventually cost the club £1.25million, but he insisted: "A lot of people were doubting my move but I had no doubts or regrets.

"Deep in my heart, I wanted to make my first-team debut for Spurs this season and to do it so early is an amazing thing. But I will have to work hard to improve my game."

Spurs' comprehensive win was marred slightly by the behaviour of the Dinamo supporters during the first half. The Croatian fans let off five flares and clashed with stewards and police in their section of the ground in the opening 45 minutes, although Spurs said that all five supporters were ejected at half-time.

Spurs had put extra stop-and-search teams in place before the game and said every one of the 800 Dinamo fans was searched on entering the stadium, with several refused entry after they were found to be carrying flares. Riot police were also drafted in to the away end during the second- half to ensure there were no disturbances between the two sets of supporters, and the atmosphere became far calmer after that.

Ramos, meanwhile, is believed to have agreed a compensation package of £1.7m. It is understood that the severance payment in his contract was linked to the Spurs' position in the Premier League at the time of his departure and, because they were bottom of the table when the Spaniard left, Ramos will collect just under half of his £3.5m-a-year salary.