Mauricio Pochettino defends Vlad Chiriches after Tottenham give up late equaliser to Besiktas

Besiktas JK's Pedro Franco, right, vies for the ball with Tottenham Hotspur's Emmanuel Adebayor during the Uefa Europa League group C match at White Hart Lane in London, Britain, on October 2, 2014. EShow more

Tottenham head coach Mauricio Pochettino will not dwell on Besiktas’ last-gasp leveller on Thursday night, despite the farcical nature in which it came about.

Until the dying embers of the Europa League match, it had looked like Spurs would win the Group C encounter thanks to Harry Kane’s fine 20-yard strike in the first half.

Hugo Lloris would have taken the majority of praise for the victory after a wonderful display, although the goalkeeper was eventually beaten by a nonchalant, late Demba Ba penalty.

Vlad Chiriches capped a poor performance by giving away the 89th minute spot-kick with a foolish handball when trying to make amends for an initial air kick, although Pochettino defended the Romania international after the 1-1 draw.

“In football you always can make a mistake,” the former Argentina defender said. “It was an unlucky action, a difficult action.

“He made one mistake after another mistake, but we need to accept it because this is football.

“I am very disappointed, I am angry, I am frustrated and all that you want to say, but it is 1-1 in the end.

“We conceded in the last minute, which is very disappointing, and maybe frustrating. It is hard to accept this.”

The result leaves Spurs third in Group C after the first two matches, with Asteras Tripolis top of the standings after beating Partizan Belgrade 2-0 last night.

A double-header with the Greek outfit awaits Spurs when the Europa League resumes, with Pochettino well aware of the importance of beating them when they come to White Hart Lane on October 23.

“We were disappointed to concede the penalty because we all believed it was going to be three points for us,” he said.

“We need to look forward now and try to get three points against Asteras.”

Besiktas, like Spurs, have two points to show at this stage of the competition, having secured a last-gasp draw which filled Slaven Bilic with pride.

“I don’t want to sound big-headed but for every team that comes to White Hart Lane and takes a point, it is a good point,” the former Everton and West Ham defender said.

“No matter what the team is, Manchester United, Besiktas, whatever - nobody is favourite here apart from Tottenham.

“The only thing I am not happy with is the result because we dominated from the first minute.

“We were basically excellent apart from the chances that we created but didn’t score and it was so frustrating to go in at half-time 1-0 down.

“We were so good that I told them ‘don’t lose your head, just keep passing, keep passing, keep passing. It will come’ - and then it came.”

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