Antonio Conte: No comment on VAR decisions at Southampton

The Italian knows his side missed an opportunity in a 1-1 draw but opted to keep his counsel on the VAR controversy that saw two goals disallowed.

Spurs were denied as they chased the three points at St Mary’s after Harry Kane’s penalty had earlier cancelled out James Ward-Prowse’s stunning opener for Saints.

Ward-Prowse found the far corner with a first-time effort in the 25th minute but Kane rifled in from the spot after Son Heung-min was chopped down five minutes before the break by Mohammed Salisu, who was shown a second yellow card.

Harry Kane equalised from the spot for Spurs at St Mary's (Pic: Stuart Martin)

Kane saw a goal cancelled out for offside, which did not look obvious on VAR, and then referee Anthony Taylor adjudged Fraser Forster to have been fouled when he dropped the ball under a challenge from Matt Doherty.

“Yeah, I think Harry scored twice, one a penalty and then the second goal. I think that I don’t want to comment on the referee decision or the VAR decision,” Conte said.

“They are there to try to do their best. We hope every time that they make the best decision.”

On his side’s inability to get past 10 men in the second half, the Italian added: “My demands are very high because I am used to being competitive and to win, and for sure for me there is a big disappointment when we don’t win.

The visitors thought they'd taken the lead on a number of occasions but were later denied (Pic: Stuart Martin)

“I understand also the situation. Now for sure we have to work a lot and it won’t be easy to fight for something this season.

“We need to improve a lot. For sure it was an opportunity that we missed. When you have this type of situation you have to try to exploit, to try to get three points.

“We knew very well that to play against Southampton in this stadium is not easy. The situation at one point of the game was positive for us.

“We didn’t find the solutions to score. We scored, but they decided to disallow the goal.”