Wigan 2 Tottenham 2: Andre Villas-Boas happy to ‘salvage a point’

Andre Villas-Boas admitted he was pleased to salvage a point after Emmerson Boyce’s late own goal denied Wigan Athletic a vital three points at the DW Stadium.

Wales international Gareth Bale put Tottenham in front in the ninth minute, with the winger capitalising on poor defending by Maynor Figueroa and Joel Robles, but Boyce restored parity minutes later with a timely header.

Latics midfielder Callum McManaman netted a powerful effort to hand the home side the lead four minutes after the break, but Boyce inadvertently deflected the ball into his own net to help Spurs rescue a point in the 89th minute.

“We did ever so well in the first half, ten shots against their two,” Villas-Boas told BBC Sport.

“The problem is that when we came back on after half-time we thought we were in control and Wigan scored almost straight away and that really shook our confidence.

“It seemed to be against the run of play. But it is good to salvage a point, hopefully it can turn out to be an important point.”

Meanwhile, Wigan manager Roberto Martínez felt Spurs never should have been awarded the free-kick which led to their equaliser with one minute of normal time remaining.

“The equaliser is what disappoints me. It is not a free-kick in the first place, when you are at the bottom of the table it seems you attract the ball to the back of your net sometimes, but those are the small margins that sometimes affect the results,” said Martínez.

“But I couldn’t be happier and prouder. We need to perform in the same manner, if we perform as we did today then we will be ok.”