SAINTS were denied victory in last night’s Under-21 Premier League encounter at St Mary’s against Tottenham by a late strike from Nabil Bentaleb.

Martin Hunter’s side had taken the lead earlier in the second half courtesy of Jake Hesketh’s stunning long-range effort, but the Algerian international’s finish inside the box ensured a share of the points, writes DANNY MAIORCA.

The draw means Saints remain five points behind the North Londoners in the table on 15 points, though they are now level with Liverpool and have a game in hand.

Stalemate means that Spurs remain sixth, although they have moved level on points with fifth-placed Everton having played three games more.

The match was a cagey opening in terms of chances – Spurs had the best chance of the opening 10 minutes, but Harry Winks’ long-range effort failed to trouble Paulo Gazzaniga in the Saints net.

The visitors had a shout for a penalty less than two minutes later – Winks was again the orchestrator for the move, finding the onrushing Kyle Walker-Peters.

Despite going down under pressure from the home defenders, his penalty claims were ignored by the officials.

Martina’s strike against Arsenal on his senior debut won December’s goal of the month, and the full-back looked to have broken the deadlock in similar fashion at the same end of the ground.

His half-volley from around 25 yards found the bottom corner through a crowd of players, but the goal was chalked off with McGee’s view obstructed by the offside Josh Sims.

Juanmi was granted an opportunity to score five minutes before the break, but he was brushed off the ball with ease after Sam Gallagher’s squared pass.

The game needed a moment of magic to separate the two teams, and it was provided bySaints shortly after the hour mark.

Hesketh picked up the ball 20 yards out, before taking a touch and curling an excellent strike into the top lefthand corner.

The visitors nearly responded 10 minutes later – Bentaleb‘s free kick beat the wall and Gazzaniga, but was just wide of the bottom right.

The Algerian had a second opportunity from an identical position just a minute later, but once again it evaded the same side of the goal.

Despite his earlier failed attempts, it was the midfielder who drew the visitors level with less than 15 minutes to go.

Substitute Emmanuel Sonupe’s cross from the right was cleared, but it fell to the 21-year-old and he beat Gazzaniga from 12 yards out.

Brimming with confidence from his sumptuous opener, Hesketh came close to winning it in stoppage time – his low drive from distance beat McGee once again, but hit the outside of the post