Southampton 3 Tottenham 3: James Ward-Prowse scores last-gasp controversial penalty in huge top four blow for Spurs
JAMES WARD-PROWSE'S stoppage-time penalty gave battling Southampton the point they deserved.
And while Spurs stars Harry Kane, Son Heung-min, Pedro Porro and Ivan Perisic all hit personal landmarks, the only statistic that really counted - three points in their Champions League quest - slipped from their grasp.
The decision to award the penalty was a little controversial, with VAR backing referee Simon Hooper's decision to point to the spot for Pape Sarr's challenge on Ainsley Maitland-Niles.
But there was no arguing with Ward-Prowse's spotkick, as the Saints captain provided the dramatic last twist of a thrilling game.
Son’s 50th Premier League assist allowed Pedro Porro to grab his first Tottenham goal in the first of seven minutes of first-half stoppage time after FOUR players went off injured.
Che Adams equalised within a minute of the restart, but Kane put the visitors backs in front with his ninth headed goal of the season - a joint record with former Everton centre forward Duncan Ferguson.
Ivan Perisic's first Spurs strike gave his team breathing space, only , only for Theo Walcott to pull one back.
Tottenham looked set to hold on for a win that would have sent them into the international break in third place and restored the points lead over fellow top-four contenders Newcastle to four points.
Then Sarr's awkward challenge was punished and Ward-Prowse did the business to give his own team a precious point in their battle against relegation.
What became a brilliant game started with an eventful first five minutes or so.
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An offside-looking Son mistimed a volley badly, before Clement Lenglet blocked a Stuart Armstrong effort and Che Adams could only divert James Ward-Prowse’s follow-up cross-shot wide from close range.
A distraught Richarlison was then forced off by injury, soon to be followed by Saints centre back Armel Bella-Kotchap after a rather reckless challenge by Ben Davies.
Once things settled down, Southampton gave just about as good as they got against a Spurs side happy to let a bottom-of-the-table team, low on confidence, have plenty of the ball.
The best of the half chances at either end fell to Eric Dier, but the centre back could not put a free header from a Dejan Kulusevski cross on target.
Jan Bednarek was injured in an accidental collision and had to go off after trying to carry on.
Davies made it four first-half crocks, but it was the first of seven minutes of stoppage time that Porro scored.
The wing back had twice fired badly off target with his swinger of a left foot. But when Son found him with a lovely crossfield pass, he steadied himself and crashed the ball into the net off the crossbar with his trusty right.
Within a minute of the re-start, however, Southampton’s front two answered the critics.
Romeo Lavia released Walcott down the right with a lovely pass and Adams was in the right place to turn in a perfect cross.
Saints had their tails up and their fans behind them as an end-to-end game developed.
Kane, who was having a quiet game by his standards, stormed down the middle on the hour but shot over the bar when a pass to Kulusevski looked the better option.
Five minutes later, the Sweden international was not holding any grudges.
Kulusevski’s cross was excellent, neither stand-in centre back Ainsley Maitland-Niles nor goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu deal with it, and Kane headed home from inside the six-yard box.
Tottenham ‘keeper Fraser Forster saved from Romain Perraud before Perisic put Spurs two goals ahead.
Saints half-cleared another Kulusevski cross and the Croatian hit a firm shot from just inside the box into the ground and bouncing out of Bazunu’s reach.
The home side were not done, far from it. Forster dealt well with a long-range effort by Maitland-Niles but was helpless when substitute Sekou Mara’s fell for Walcott to make it 2-3.
The lively Mara then burst through and forced Forster into another save.
Hope was fading when Maitland-Niles got to the ball just ahead of Sarr. There did not seem to be much contact, but it was enough for Hooper to award the penalty and for VAR Tony Harrington to decide not to ask him to take another look.
Ward-Prowse's penalty was briiliant, Clement Lenglet's headed wide at the death, and Southampton took away what they had earned.
