Dominic Solanke admitted Tottenham made it harder for themselves than it had to be despite beating Manchester United 4-3 to reach the Carabao Cup semi-finals.
The striker’s brace, either side of a Dejan Kulusevski effort, looked like setting up a comfortable victory for Spurs but two defensive errors allowed United back into the game and make it 3-2.
It took another freak goal from Heung-Min Son to put the under-pressure hosts out of reach, though there was still time for Jonny Evans to reduce the deficit again.
The victory sees Spurs join Liverpool, Arsenal and Newcastle in the final four but Solanke knows they should have seen out the tie more convincingly.
He told Sky Sports: “Being 3-0 up we could have dealt with the game better, killed some time but we made it hard for ourselves, but the important thing is we won and we’re through.
“That’s football sometimes, we stick together. Mistakes are a part of football, we dug in, we showed spirit and got the job done.
“Scoring against a team like United is great but the most important thing is to win today and getting to the semi-final.”
Manager Ange Postecoglou agreed that their Thursday night victory probably should have been smoother but praised the character shown by his side.
The Australian added: “Obviously we made it harder than it should have been, for sure! We were in control, played really well, we looked like we were going to manage the game.
“But two unfortunate moments, the first one affected Fraser [Forster] for a bit and the second one came as a result as that.
“Then we had to scramble a bit, we showed some character in the end, got a fourth and through to the semis!”
