Antonio Conte rues wasted opportunity as Spurs draw to 10-man Southampton

Antonio Conte admitted that his Tottenham side missed an opportunity by failing to beat 10-man Southampton in the Premier League on Tuesday.

Saints had Mohammed Salisu sent off for a second bookable offence just before the break after he brought down Son Heung-min in the penalty area.

Southampton were deservedly 1-0 up at the time thanks to a fine strike from James Ward-Prowse, but when Harry Kane struck in the equaliser from the resulting penalty most would have expected in-form Spurs to collect all three points.

However, the visitors could not find a breakthrough after the interval, though they did have two goals ruled out - one for offside and one for a foul on Fraser Forster in the build-up.

Speaking after the game, Conte revealed he regretted his side's failure to complete the turnaround.

"For sure it was an opportunity that we missed. When you have this type of situation you have to try to exploit, to try to get three points," Conte said.

"We knew very well that to play against Southampton in this stadium is not easy. The situation at one point of the game was positive for us.

"But as I said before, I think in the second half we felt fatigue and our mind wasn't clear to make the best decision. This can happen."

"I tried also with subs to change something, Lucas in and Gil. In the first half I decided to change Regi, he got a yellow card. It was much better in this way. We didn't find the solutions to score. We scored, but they decided to disallow the goal."

The result leaves Spurs sixth in the Premier League table, five points adrift of north London rivals Arsenal in fourth with two games in hand. Next up they face struggling Watford away from home on New Year's Day.

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