Ange Postecoglou is confident Tottenham's 1-1 draw against Rangers will ultimately be a key point in the context of their Europa League campaign.
Spurs put in another disjointed performance as they failed to win for the fifth game in a row, but it could have been a lot worse at Ibrox.
Hamza Igamane opened the scoring for the home side and although Dejan Kulusevski equalised, it took a brilliant stop from Fraser Forster late on to deny Cyriel Dessers a winner for Rangers.
Spurs are currently playing with depleted numbers, with defenders Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Ben Davies all sidelined, something Spurs boss Postecoglou believes is having an impact.
“I think that's the situation we're in now. We're in a bit of trouble, we're on the numbers, for a lot of them we're asking for a lot of repeated effort, it's taking its toll,” said the Australian, who comes under increased scrutiny from some parts of the Spurs support.
“The next round of the European Games will not take place for a while, which will certainly help. It will be an important point for us.
“I thought the substitutes made the difference and we scored a good goal, had more good moments and a great save from Fraser [Forster] at the end.”
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Former Celtic boss Postecoglou has won just once in five trips to Ibrox as an opponent and he acknowledged the impact of a lively crowd.
“It's expected in the context of the match. It's a tough match, the crowd and the atmosphere, a tight first half, not many clear chances,” he added.
“Then they scored early in the second half and the crowd was behind them.
“They are always difficult to play against here at Ibrox, especially on European nights.
“Because of the nature of the match, the atmosphere, not many teams come here to win, so you expect it to be a tough match.
“We were nowhere near our best, which I think is fair to say, and at the same time we are in a period of games that we are grinding through at the moment.
“Evidently [we are playing] with a fairly thinned out team. So in the context of that I think it was a good result for us in the end.”
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