Ange Postecoglou addresses Tottenham penalty row between Brennan Johnson and Mathys Tel | OneFootball

Johnson was denied chance to clinch a first Premier League hat-trick when Tel insisted on taking late penalty against Southampton

Tel scored an injury-time penalty to seal a 3-1 win over Southampton with his first Premier League goal

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Ange Postecoglou has played down the Tottenham penalty row between Brennan Johnson and Mathys Tel.

With Spurs winning 2-1 in injury time, Johnson won a penalty when he was fouled by Southampton defender Wellington.

Johnson wanted to take the spot-kick himself but Pedro Porro took the ball off him, passed it to stand-in captain Cristian Romero who then gave it to Tel.

Johnson looked deflated after the game and had to be consoled by several Spurs team-mates

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Tel, who has struggled since his January loan move from Bayern Munich, wanted to score his first Premier League goal and beat Southampton Aaron Ramsdale with his penalty.

Johnson looked deflated after the game and had to be consoled by several Spurs team-mates, including Heung-min Son and James Maddison.

Addressing the incident for the first time, Postecoglou said: “We scored, we won. Delighted. It's incredible, it's just... literally turning gold into crap when it's Tottenham.

“Seriously. If we're 2-1 up tomorrow night and get a penalty in the last minute, I want the best penalty taker to take it. I mean the one slight against this club is apparently it hasn't been a winner.

“Well the winner's mentality in the last minute of the game is to score a goal. We scored a goal. And yet somehow in this ultimate universe where everything Tottenham does is wrong, that's come out as a negative.

“Be that as it may. From my point of view, I was delighted because as I said if that's tomorrow night and we get a penalty in the last minute and get a third goal which could be really decisive, I'm really pleased with the way the players handled it.”

Speaking to Spurs in-house media after the Southampton game, Johnson said: “It's only normal for me to want to take the penalty.

“There's only a certain amount of talking to do before it gets quite messy.

“I've been in the situation before when I've had people wanting to take the ball off me and it kind of unsettles you a little bit.

“I knew the game was pretty much done but still, I didn't want to unsettle anyone or start any disagreements.

“So, once the decision was made, I just had to get on with it.”