Southampton Manager Rubén Sellés declared his pride in the Southampton players and fans, whose belief never wavered as Saints staged a dramatic late comeback to rescue a point against Tottenham at St Mary’s.
Tottenham threw away a two-goal lead at bottom side Southampton as James Ward-Prowse’s stoppage-time penalty rescued a 3-3 draw that saw Spurs miss the chance to move third.
The hosts found themselves with a mountain to climb, trailing 3-1 to the Champions League hopefuls with 13 minutes to play, but Theo Walcott pulled a goal back before James Ward-Prowse held his nerve from a pressure penalty deep into stoppage time.
That was after Ché Adams had cancelled out Pedro Porro’s first-half opener, before Spurs stormed into a 3-1 lead.
Defender Mohammed Salisu was introduced in the game in the 8th minute to replace the injured Bella-Kotchap with Kamaldeen Sulemana coming on for Mohamed Elyounoussi in the 70th minute mark of the match.
Porro Porro was picked out in acres of space by Son Heung-min and took a touch before hammering an effort home via the crossbar from just outside the six-yard box to give Spurs the lead.
Romeo Lavia released Walcott down the right, with Clement Lenglet and Perisic unable to keep up with the Saints attacker, who crossed for Che Adams to restore parity off the post from close range.
Harry Kane discovered his clinical edge to propel Spurs back into the lead after 65 minutes. Ivan Perisic’s 74th-minute half-volley from the edge of the box bounced off the surface before nestling into the far corner to make it 3-1.
Theo Walcott scored Southampton’s second goal in the 77th minute and James Ward-Prowse made it 3-3 from the penalty spot in added time.
“I’m feeling proud, very proud of the performance that the boys put on to the pitch, very proud of how the crowd supported us in the last 15 minutes, I think it was a key moment for us,” he said at the post-match conference.
“Of course we need to analyse the game, get the things we didn’t do well, but I think we didn’t deserve to be 3-1 down, and the comeback just shows how much football and character we have in our dressing room.
“I think you can see on the pitch when we concede the 3-1 (goal), the boys got together and sent a message to each other. We went for it – we had the situation to score the second one.
“It was difficult to play after you lose against Brentford after three days, but we showed physicality, we showed football, we showed character, we showed togetherness, we saw a stadium that was bouncing with the team, and I’m very proud of it.”
Saints’ adaptability was tested in a bizarre first half in which both managers were forced to make two substitutions due to injuries.
For Sellés, that meant having to withdraw both of his starting centre-backs in Armel Bella-Kotchap, after eight minutes, and Jan Bednarek, 11 minutes before the interval.
“It’s never happened in my life and I’m 15 years in football, never lose two centre-backs to injury in the first 30 minutes,” the boss continued. “But we have a big squad, that’s the reality.
“We brought Mohammed Salisu in, who was fantastic and has been playing for this club for the last three or four years, and we brought Ainsley Maitland-Niles, who was a little bit different – he gave us a lot of calmness in the build-up, and the team managed in the best way possible. I think they did a fantastic job.”
