Last-gasp point keeps Spurs in top-four contention

Tottenham 2 West Ham United 2. He left it late, very late, but Harry Kane rescued Spurs in a thrilling encounter at White Hart Lane with a goal after 95 minutes.

The 21-year-old had won Tottenham a controversial penalty after going down in the box under a challenge from Alex Song, and though he dusted himself down and took the spot-kick himself it was saved by Adrian in the Hammers goal. But Kane was quickest to the rebound to slam the ball home to claim his 24th goal of the season as well as a precious point for his side.

The result – coupled with Liverpool's 2-0 win away at Southampton – means that Spurs now lie seventh, a point behind the Reds but five clear of the Hammers who are eighth.

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"I think we deserved more than a point," reflected Mauricio Pochettino, who made six changes to the side that drew with Fiorentina in their Europa League clash on Thursday. "We had 21 or 22 shots [and] we created many chances…but after they scored they created chances on counter-attack, they have very fast players up front. But in general, if we analyse, we are better than them."

Pochettino also praised his side's "character" in coming back at the death (Kane's goal was the second latest in the Premier League this season at 95mins 57sec, with only the strike by Liverpool's Martin Skrtel coming deeper into stoppage time), particularly as the Lilywhites were playing the second of six matches in the space of seventeen days).

Tottenham had looked like finishing the day with nothing to show for their efforts as their visitors took a 2-0 lead with goals in each half from Diafra Sakho and Cheikhou Kouyate, the latter notching his 11th of the season when he squeezed Mark Noble's cross past Hugo Lloris on 62 minutes.

But Danny Rose gave the Tottenham faithful hope on 81 minutes when his scuffed shot beat Adrian in the West Ham goal to make it 2-1. That's how it stayed until Song brought down Kane on 95 minutes for the decisive penalty, leaving Hammers boss Sam Allardyce to reflect ruefully. "I'm not blaming Harry Kane for going down in the box – we should do more of that. We're an honest team and we've only got one penalty this season. We're not getting rewards for our honesty."

Liverpool's victory over Southampton was also overshadowed by penalty controversy although for the Saints there were no spot-kicks – even if they were sure there should have had two.

"We could have had two penalties but the referee didn't whistle," said Southampton forward Filip Djuricic. "The first one I feel the contact, it was light contact but I fell down. The second one was more a penalty than the first one for sure. I feel his hand on my shoulder and I fell down."

Liverpool's victory came courtesy of goals from Philippe Coutinho and Raheem Sterling, and lifts the Reds into sixth, just a point behind Southampton. "It's a big win," declared Liverpool captain

Jordan Henderson. "From the defence right through the team we were excellent. The perfect performance really."