Danny Rose blooms every April and his latest contribution to a limited goals collection maintained Tottenham's challenge for European football next season.

All three of Rose's efforts have come in what TS Eliot coined the cruellest month, this headed one four years after his first, which came in a north London derby win. The opportunistic 33rd-minute effort hauled Tim Sherwood's team to within three points of Everton, who occupy the fifth place that offers automatic Europa League qualification, and preceded second-half calls for him to follow the Stoke captain, Ryan Shawcross, down the tunnel.

Going by the book, Rose was fortunate to leave the field via the conventional route of being substituted just three minutes after seeking retribution on Geoff Cameron, who had bumped him over on the touchline. Regaining his feet, he scampered after his opponent and shoved him in the chest. Actions which the referee, Andre Marriner, deemed worthy of only a caution.

"My heart was in my mouth, to be honest," said Sherwood. "He is still a young guy learning his trade. He's smiling because we haven't been reduced to 10 men and he can learn from it because we have come away unscathed. He made the referee make a decision and he shouldn't be putting himself in that situation.

"He was performing really well, and I didn't really want to bring him off the field but I had to defuse the situation. They were so hyped up. I have never heard a crowd so hyped up. I thought I had to get him off the field and to the dressing room – out of sight and out of mind."

The Britannia Stadium's screams of injustice followed Shawcross's dismissal for two bookings eight minutes apart, either side of the interval – a body check on Christian Eriksen followed by a high boot on Rose as the pair stretched to bring down an aerial ball.

"Rose is a quick player. It's a foul, clearly a foul, but that's all there is," said Mark Hughes. "The referee played on 10 seconds, then brought it back and deemed it worthy of a yellow card.

"I have been involved with Andre Marriner for many years, and he is a top referee but I have to say that today his performance was really poor. Whether or not his confidence is a little bit shot because he has been involved in games that have highlighted some of his decisions, I don't know. He frustrated us on numerous occasions. Not least when the boy Rose raised his hands – everybody knows it's a clear, straight red – and he gives a yellow card."

Marriner, who controversially dismissed Arsenal's Kieran Gibbs instead of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in a case of mistaken identity against Chelsea a month ago, also opted to punish Emmanuel Adebayor with a free-kick in the sixth minute when a stray arm caught Shawcross in the face. So, the only goal – after Adebayor outfoxed Glenn Whelan to get to the byline and stood up the cross for the onrushing Rose to power home – was greeted by jeers.

The sense of injustice galvanized a Stoke team seeking an unprecedented fifth straight Premier League home win. They could not find a way past Hugo Lloris, however, despite the best efforts of Marko Arnautovic. Peter Odemwingie and Steven Nzonzi also placed free headers wide when well placed. In contrast, Spurs tested Asmir Begovic only once more: when Paulinho was foiled in injury time.