Aston Villa boss Alex McLeish praised his side's 'attitude and determination' as they held on against 10-man Tottenham to a 1-1 draw.
Villa manager says attitude from his players was fantastic
Aston Villa boss Alex McLeish praised his side's 'attitude and determination' as they held on against 10-man Tottenham to a 1-1 draw and secure their Premier League safety.
Ciaran Clark gave the hosts the lead at Villa Park via a deflected first-half opener and their cause was aided further still when Spurs were reduced to 10 men when Danny Rose was sent off for a challenge on Alan Hutton.
Harry Redknapp's team soon responded, though, via Emmanuel Adebayor's penalty, yet they were unable to force a winner.
Villa are now three points clear of 18th-placed Bolton and have a 17-goal advantage over the Trotters, making them virtually safe.
However, they equalled the Premier League record of 17 draws in a campaign held by themselves in 2006-2007 and Newcastle in 2003-2004.
And it means McLeish's side have ended the season with only four home wins - the least number in a season in their history.
"Four home wins is not good enough. Totally agree with you," the Scot told
Sky Sports News.
"I know there are other teams in the same boat in the Premier League who have lost too many games for their liking but all that concerns me is Aston Villa's home form.
"I asked the players today to give us a performance that the other team should be left feeling like, 'next time we play them, we're going to get the same type of performance'."
Injuries
Villa suffered injuries to Emile Heskey, Alan Hutton, Andreas Weimann and Charles N'Zogbia and McLeish bemoaned his side's luck after the match, saying: "Incredible, just incredible. But I think there was a great level of commitment and that probably resulted in the injuries.
"Maybe players really getting close to the ball and close to the Spurs players and sometimes collisions can result in injuries.
"Personally, we lost too many, too soon to try and get a foot hold in the second half.
"The attitude was fantastic. The determination was there and we've had to be in a bit of a dog fight all season to be honest. Our early season form wasn't too bad, but ever since the new year we've had problems to contend with injury wise.
"You lose two of your most experienced players (Darren Bent and Richard Dunne) for such a long time, it's going to hurt any team."
