Southampton 1-1 Tottenham: Spurs left FUMING after controversy on THREE disallowed goals

It is awfully hard to celebrate a club record when it comes wrapped in a draw that smells like defeat.

For that reason, Tottenham trudged away with bowed heads from this result, which held numerical significance for Antonio Conte but had the feel of a missed opportunity.

First to the milestone, though. This was Conte's seventh league engagement at Spurs and so far he is yet to be defeated. No manager in the club's history has gone beyond six without loss, so well done, have a dollop of ketchup. That corner is being turned.

Harry Kane (middle) and Tottenham left Southampton aggrieved that they had seen a win taken from them by the officials

Kane equalised from the penalty spot but saw a second goal chalked off by a controversial offside call taken by the VAR

Southampton captain James Ward-Prowse had given his side a deserved lead in the first half with a stunning right-foot finish

Hugo Lloris was at full stretch but the Frenchman could do nothing to keep out Ward-Prowse's pinpoint shot into the corner

Tottenham's biggest issue with officials came when Matt Doherty's goal was chalked off for a foul on 'keeper Fraser Forster

Now to the dampener, which is to say they played for 49 minutes against 10 men at 1-1 and found no way past. 

Give Southampton their due in that stubborn tale – they deserved their lead through James Ward-Prowse and played well until Mohammed Salisu was sent off late in the first half. Thereafter they fought magnificently to protect what remained after Harry Kane had equalised with the penalty awarded in the wake of Salisu's dismissal. Good for them – everything Southampton got, they earned.

And yet it is equally fair to conclude this was a botched job by Spurs. They had 20 shots in all, 15 of which followed the red card, so this will sting, even if they do continue to move on at speed from the messes of their recent past.

If there is mitigation it might come from a sense of injustice. Tottenham had three goals disallowed – one for Ben Davies at 0-0 that was clearly offside, and two at 1-1 that were more contentious. The second, scored from a fractionally offside position by Kane, involved a sublime touch and finish, supporting the view that the England captain is returning to form. 

From that perspective it would have been doubly galling for Spurs that it was taken away by the VAR. The third disallowed goal, via the heel of Fraser Forster, was wiped out because of a foul on the goalkeeper by Matt Doherty, though that too was debatable.

To his credit, Conte didn't take the easy get-out of a swipe at the referee Anthony Taylor.

'For me there's a big disappointment we don't win,' he said. 'We are to work a lot because it won't be easy to fight for something this season. We needed to improve a lot.

'I need to be disappointed because it was a big opportunity to win. I think that to play after 44 hours is not easy for every team. I think that I have seen a bit of fatigue in my players.'

Kane was stifled for much of the opening exchanges as Southampton dominated as they pushed Spurs back to their goal

Things began to unravel for Ralph Hasenhuttl's side when Son Heung-min was fouled and Mohammed Salisu was sent off

Conte's response to the festive schedule was to make three changes to the side that beat Crystal Palace on Boxing Day. 

If there was a minor surprise among them it was the limitation to a substitute's role for Lucas Moura after goals in each of his past three starts. As the player with the greatest mark-up under the new regime, there was doubtless a temptation to cling to a good thing, albeit one that was ultimately balanced by the necessity for a rest.

Dele Alli took the Brazilian's spot on the right of Conte's attacking trident, but he didn't take the opportunity. He was hooked after an hour.

Ralph Hasenhuttl had followed Southampton's first win in seven by swapping out six from the XI that beat West Ham. That included Che Adams who tested positive for covid at 10pm on Monday night.

As well as the personnel changes, Hasenhuttl also tweaked his system to mirror Conte's 3-4-3, the success of which was demonstrated by Tottenham's ineffectiveness for the majority of the first half.

There could be no complaints from the Southampton defender as he picked up a second yellow card for the illegal challenge

In the end, though, Tottenham boss Antonio Conte trudged off disappointed that his side had one point instead of three

Amid the suffocating frenzy of the home side's early pressing, Spurs created next to nothing without the support of set-pieces and had already coughed up chances to Shane Long and Adam Armstrong by the time Ward-Prowse crashed through.

The move originated with a Salisu throw that was cleared to Ward-Prowse on the edge of the area. Striking the ball on the bounce, his drive grazed Eric Dier's back on its way to the top corner.

The game turned on Salisu's second yellow card, which was shown when he hacked down Son Heung-Min quarter of an hour after his first booking. Kane launched his penalty into the top corner.

The disallowed goals after the break arguably robbed Spurs of a win, but that view would overlook their own role in fluffing so many opportunities.

Hasenhuttl said: 'When you are fighting hard against all the situations and being one man down, I couldn't be more proud of my players.' 

Recap with Sportsmail's NATHAN SALT the Premier League coverage of Southampton vs Tottenham, Crystal Palace vs Norwich and Watford vs West Ham, including build-up, team news and updates.