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Jol safe for another day as Spurs fight back to earn draw

Tottenham Hotspur's Pascal Chimbonda, second left, competes for the ball with Aston Villa's Stiliyan Petrov during their Premiership match in London on Monday. The game finished in a 4-4 draw. PHOTO: EPA

Robbie Keane claimed a Spurs fightback to earn a 4-4 draw with Aston Villa felt as good as a win after a night in which manager Martin Jol came within half an hour of the sack.

That was how long there was to play when Villa opened up a 4-1 lead, but a Pascal Chimbonda strike and a Keane penalty set the stage for Younes Kaboul to snatch an 92nd-minute equalizer in what may come to be seen as a turning point in Tottenham's season.

"To come back from 4-1 down is unbelievable," Keane said after an unbelievable night of drama at White Hart Lane on the club's 125th birthday.

"You talk about dead and buried, but we showed lots of character. That's what we have in this team. When you're 4-1 down, you go hell for leather. It does feel like a sort of victory to us in many ways."

The players celebrated Kaboul's equalizer by sprinting to embrace Jol, who looked like a condemned man when Villa's fourth goal by Craig Gardner went in in the 59th minute.

"You should have seen him [Jol] at the end when we scored the goal," Keane added. "He had the support from everyone. He's shown what a good manager he is over the past couple of years."

Jol showed the strain of the evening when he said: "I don't know what to feel.

"It was awful but on the other hand it was a big celebration at the end," he said.

"But we came back from the death and that was a big positive, but I don't think I've ever been involved in a game like this," he said. "We could have won it at the end."

Asked if he felt he was safe for the time being, he said: "I don't know. It's not up to me."
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