Interim Spurs boss Ryan Mason suggested that there was only one team going to win between themselves and Southampton on Wednesday night.
Tottenham made a slow start against Southampton as they failed to register a shot on target in the opening 45 minutes.
They were punished for this in the 30th minute. James Ward-Prowse sent in a teasing corner towards the front post that was headed in by Danny Ings.
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Spurs improved after the break and they deservedly grabbed an equaliser through Gareth Bale. Lucas Moura was the provider as he laid it off for the Welshman inside the penalty area. Bale found the corner of the net past Alex McCarthy.
Mason’s side got better as the game went on and they were denied a second goal in the 75th minute. Heung-Min Son netted but VAR chalked it off as there was an offside in the build-up.
Son did get his goal in the 90th minute, though. With Harry Kane out injured, he took their late penalty and he made no mistake as he completed Spurs’ fight back.
Mason said after the game that he was “proud” of his players after they moved to within two points of fourth-placed Chelsea:
“I thought it was fantastic,” Mason said. “I’m so proud of the boys – so much energy, so much bravery, especially after the first 20-30 minutes.
“We found it difficult at times but the guys showed belief, they stuck to the plan and full credit to them. I thought there was only one team going to win it.
“I think tonight was important for many reasons – a change of manager, a lot has gone on at the club in the last 48 hours. It was important to get back to winning ways.”
As cited by BBC Sport, Bale insisted that Spurs “deserved” to beat Southampton:
“Southampton came at us and pushed hard first half, we’ve only had a couple of days with the new manager to try and do some things so it’s going to take some time.
“But we had a good chat at half time about what we could improve and we did that second half and controlled the game and deserved the victory.”
“We just to be patient, positional issues as a team we’ve only had a couple of days to work on that so just minor teething issues. We’ll continue to improve for the cup final at the weekend.”
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