Tottenham Hotspur manager Andre Villas-Boas has admitted that Sunday's 2-1 defeat to Everton is "a difficult blow to take".

Spurs looked to be on course for the victory at Goodison Park thanks to Clint Dempsey's opener, but injury-time goals from Steven Pienaar and Nikica Jelavic provided a dramatic turnaround.

"If we count the number of results that have been bad for us in the last minutes we would be first I think," Villas-Boas told reporters.

"It's a difficult blow to take. We didn't play well in the first half but improved in the second half.

"Everton didn't have as much quality as they did in the first half and apart from the two goals we suffered in the last minute we looked more in control of the game."

The result has seen Everton replace Tottenham in fourth place in the Premier League table.