Dempsey retrieves draw for Spurs against United

The United States forward, who gave Tottenham its first win at United in 23 years in September, canceled out Robin van Persie's first-half header to give the fourth-place hosts something to show for their dominance at a snowy White Hart Lane.

"Before (this season) I'd never scored against them, so it's good to help the team get results," said Dempsey, who joined from Fulham in August. "We've got a win and a draw now (against United)."

United remains top but its lead has been trimmed to five points this weekend after second-place Manchester City beat Fulham 2-0 on Saturday.

Despite salvaging a point, Tottenham fell four points behind third-place Chelsea after its London rival beat Arsenal 2-1 earlier in the day.

While United managed just five shots, Tottenham scored with its 25th shot in the third minute of stoppage time.

Dempsey swept in the winner after being set up by Aaron Lennon, who had pounced after goalkeeper David de Gea punched a shot by Benoit Assou-Ekotto inadvertently to him.

"They kept pumping the ball in the box and got their reward. You'd have thought we would have dealt with it better," United manager Alex Ferguson said. "We should have killed them off on the counterattack in the second half. It was the final ball that was letting us down."

United rarely threatened Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris after Van Persie rose in the 25th minute to meet Tom Cleverley's cross and head in his 22nd goal since joining from Arsenal in August.

"It was a good build up from Danny to Thomas and then Robin did what he has been doing all season," Ferguson said. "He notched another goal."

But Ferguson turned his fury on an assistant referee for not awarding a penalty after Wayne Rooney, a surprise substitute who only came on in the second half, was caught by Steven Caulker.

"It was definitely a penalty — he has put his leg right in there," Ferguson said. "The linesman (Simon Beck) is facing it. I thought he had a very poor game, the linesman. I thought he was disappointing.

"We have got that history with him. He never gave offside with (then-Chelsea striker Didier) Drogba at Old Trafford (in 2010) when he was three yards offside. Everyone remembers that. I certainly do."