Tottenham 2 Manchester Utd 2: Perhaps the best thing that can be said for André Villas-Boas is that there was never the sense of a team playing under immense strain.
True, there was that awkward moment when he substituted Aaron Lennon and White Hart Lane grumpily showed its disapproval but there were other moments when the crowd belted out his name. His team matched Manchester United in a pulsating game and probably had enough chances to beat them for the first time at this ground since 2001.
They led twice and the second of them was an absolute peach off the laces of Sandro's right boot. Yet Manchester United showed the durability of champions. David Moyes's team, operating on the counter-attack, created plenty of chances of their own and came back through two goals from Wayne Rooney, leading their attack with great presence and authority.
Villas-Boas is certainly entitled to reflect on a vastly improved performance after the harrowing defeat at Manchester City the previous weekend, but he could be forgiven as well for feeling a measure of frustration.
At 1-0, Roberto Soldado missed a glorious chance to double the lead. Rooney's first goal arrived four minutes later, against the run of play, and there was some wretched defending in the build-up.
Kyle Walker, the player raising an apologetic arm, had opened the scoring with a free-kick, in the 18th minute, as the four players in the defensive wall jumped straight over the ball. The guilty quartet – Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Wayne Rooney and Daniel Welbeck – had been expecting Walker to go for the top corner. Walker struck an old-fashioned daisy-cutter past David de Gea and it took United some time to shake their heads clear.
Unfortunately for Walker, it was his mistake that set up Rooney just after the half-hour mark, perhaps distracted by the close proximity of Michael Dawson but almost inexplicably turning Jones's right-wing delivery straight into the path of one of the Premier League's in-form strikers.
Rooney, from six yards, was never going to turn away such a gift.
Walker also played an unwitting contribution before Hugo Lloris came off his goal-line to bring down Welbeck for the penalty that gave Rooney the chance to put in United's second equaliser.
The attack had begun in United's own half, with Vidic and Walker going for a 50-50 and the Serb winning emphatically. United broke upfield and Welbeck reached Rooney's pass just in front of Lloris. The striker's back leg was trailing and the referee, Mike Dean, decided the goalkeeper had made contact.
Again, the Spurs crowd were plunged into frustration. Two minutes earlier, Sandro had advanced through the middle, cut inside Tom Cleverley and let fly with a beauty to pick out the top corner. De Gea had no chance but Spurs could not protect their lead and the draw, ultimately, was unsatisfactory for both teams bearing in mind it leaves United nine points behind Arsenal, and Spurs 10.
(Guardian Service)
