Poyet: Wasteful Spurs Secured Tough Win Gus Poyet admitted that his side were made to labour for their win against Sunderland in the second half.

The Tottenham assistant manager did not mince his words about his team’s performance in the second half, speaking to BBC Sport after the match.

Said Poyet: “We [Tottenham] were so impressive in the first half, creating chances and playing lovely football, but we didn't score the second and so we had a very, very tough second half.”

Spurs had taken an early lead through Aaron Lennon in the second minute. Sunderland defender Paul McShane was intercepted by Lee Young-pyo, and he delivered a pinpoint pass to Jamie O'Hara, whose cross was poked home by Lennon.

But the hosts failed to extend their lead as strikers Jermain Defoe and Dimitar Berbatov couldn’t make their scoring opportunities count.

After the break, however, Tottenham took their foot off the pedal, which allowed Sunderland to dominate. The visitors began to grow in confidence, and even threatened to score on numerous occasions. A crucial late strike by substitute Robbie Keane, however, secured all three points for Spurs.

Poyet explained Juande Ramos’ decision to rest several first-team players against Sunderland.

"There are many reasons for that, maybe. We're still in all the cups and are playing so many games for one,” he added. And, he conceded that Tottenham should have continued to pile on the pressure on Sunderland after clinching a first half lead.

“I think we might have relaxed after half-time too and you can't afford to do that in the Premiership,” said Poyet.

Still, he believes a fourth successive home victory will help boost the team’s confidence, ahead of the Carling Cup semi-final clash against Arsenal on Tuesday.

"I'm glad we defended well and held on for a win [against Sunderland]. We now have a massive game against Arsenal on Tuesday and, if we could get to the final, it might prove a turning point for this club in terms of winning things and getting into Europe again."

And Poyet had special words of praise for Keane, who scored his 100th goal for the club to help seal Tottenham’s win.

He said: “He’s [Keane] got plenty of quality and desire to do well for the club. Even though he had only 15 to 20 minutes to play, he came on and score an important goal for us.

“I’m really delighted for him.”