Wanyama: Ten-man Tottenham deserved to win

Victor Wanyama has insisted that ten-man Tottenham were the better side and deserved to eliminate KAA Gent on Thursday night.

Spurs found themselves in a tricky situation to progress in Europa Cup after England star Dele Alli was given his marching orders for a shocking tackle on Brecht Dejaegere towards the end of the first half, and although they battled boldly in his absence, they were unable to secure what would have been only a second win in seven matches at Wembley.

VIDEO: Wanyama scores cracker for Tottenham

The Kenyan captain struck a beauty on the hour to make it 2-1 on the night, 2-2 on aggregate after Christian Eriksen had opened the scoring with just 10 minutes played. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be. We couldn’t find that crucial third goal and when KAA Gent broke away to score an equaliser eight minutes from time, realistically it was all over.

"We still mustered more efforts at goal - 25 in the game in total - but it stayed 2-2 on the night, 3-2 to the Belgians on aggregate,” Wanyama told Spurs' official website.

“We kept believing, we thought we could get something out of the game,” added Wanyama, explaining his feelings after seeing his strike hit the back of the net. "But now we’re all disappointed because we’re out of the competition. We showed a lot of character and showed we could do it, even with 10 men. I believe we deserved to win.”

Wanyama celebrates memorable goal for Spurs

Wanyama has now challenged his teammates to recover quickly and make amends when they host Stoke City at White Hart Lane on Sunday (1.30pm). “We have to pick ourselves up again and the players know that,” he said. “It was a fantastic second half performance. Hopefully we’ll continue how we played in the second half and we’ll be okay.”