Mauricio's verdict on dramatic Carabao Cup win

Mauricio Pochettino highlighted the team’s character and will to win after a dramatic penalty shoot-out victory over Watford in the Carabao Cup at Milton Keynes on Wednesday night.

It was a roller-coaster of emotions at Stadium MK before Dele Alli – who else? – slotted home the clinching spot-kick to send us into the fourth round.

Trailing a minute into the second half, it had looked as though we’d turned it all around when Dele slotted home the equaliser from the spot on 81 minutes and Erik Lamela provided what looked like the grandstand finish by making it 2-1 five minutes later.

But we came back to earth with a bump when former Spur Etienne Capoue struck low into the corner in the 89th minute.

That’s how it stayed and under the new rules of the competition, we were straight into penalties.

We were perfect from 12 yards with Heung-Min Son, Lamela, Fernando Llorente and finally Dele driving home the decisive penalty after Paulo Gazzaniga had saved from Capoue and Domingos Quina.

"I’m happy, and happy because maybe it wasn’t a great performance but the team fought hard and I think the personality we showed at the end taking the penalties and winning the game is a fantastic signal for us,” said Mauricio.

“There are periods in football where all is against you and in the last few games, we’ve suffered a lot of negative things.

“The most important thing is to keep working, keep pushing, keep being strong. Maybe we deserved to win the game 2-1 after the second half but I think it was good, the character, and it’s a positive result.

“We need to be strong and all together. From the beginning of the season we have played eight official games, we are going to play again on Saturday, seven away from home and two at Wembley.

“I think we need to praise the players and praise the fans - we’re making a fantastic effort."