Tottenham Hotspur 1 Chelsea 1: match report There was a handshake - lukewarm - and a brief exchange of words afterwards and the upshot of which was that Villas-Boas could not stop and chat as he had a plane to catch back to Porto for his, and Mourinho's, former club's anniversary celebrations. He will have clinked glasses a little more heartily had Spurs held on for the win and though Mata's introduction did make a significant difference, while Mourinho argued that Torres's dismissal killed the momentum his team was gathering to win the game, there was another crucial moment. It came just before half-time when Spurs midfielder Paulinho, who along with Christian Eriksen and Andros Townsend had been the dominant figure in the first period, broke through and struck an angled shot which clipped a post. Had he scored then it could have been game-over as Villas-Boas ruefully commented. "That was the moment of the game," he said. That could have put us in a very, very good position and we deserved that for the first half we played. The second half was not well played by both teams but Chelsea looked very strong on the counter-attack and deserved the point. They did. Mourinho made his tactical alterations by moving Ramires into the centre for the static, ineffective John Obi Mikel - another big decision in an enthralling matchup. For the way he has brought this Spurs team together with gifted players comfortable in possession Villas-Boas deserves huge credit. With his continuing ability to manage games then so does Mourinho who appeared uncomfortable as his team were swamped during that first period. Spurs" goal oozed quality as Eriksen's sharp turn left Frank Lampard floundering before he clipped the ball into the feet of Roberto Soldado. His lay-off to Gylfi Sigurdsson was marginally short but he rode John Terry's challenge to then poke the ball past the advancing Petr Cech. Chelsea were carved open again - with Townsend finding Soldado and Paulinho running in the expectation to tap home only for Branislav Ivanovic to intervene. Mourinho appeared intent on encouraging his players to hit long balls over the top to try to use Torres" pace and the striker grew in influence. It was possibly his best game for Chelsea even if he did not trouble Spurs" goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. That switched with the Mata switch. Torres broke clear, running past Vertonghen but Oscar, on the stretch, could not connect properly with his sweeping cross and then there was another thrilling run by the Spaniard as he wove his way past Michael Dawson into the penalty area. Lloris smothered with a fine save but Torres was, clearly, up for it. Perhaps his blood was up too much. A keen battle with Vertonghen was turning into something more spiteful and both players were guilty to varying degrees with pushes and shoves, trips and pokes and then that scratch. Just as that was in danger of becoming a distraction, Chelsea equalised. Of course the assist came from Mata. Vertonghen scythed down Ramires - yet another yellow card - and Mata's flighted ball was met by Terry, who had wasted an earlier header, but who was not tracked by Dawson and his faintest flick beat Lloris. Chelsea were, most certainly, in the ascendancy now with another fine save by Lloris, this time denying substitute Andre Schurrle after he was played in, again, by Torres. The French goalkeeper's speed off his goal-line and anticipation ranks him among the very best. Both managers rang through the changes but Torres" dismissal stalled Chelsea. Suddenly Spurs sensed they could hit back and, twice, substitute Jermain Defoe went close - shooting weakly at Cech and then running across goal only for his driven effort to be deflected narrowly wide. The tension grew and there was one last chance which fell to Sigurdsson who collected Dawson's pass just outside the area, swivelled and shot. Cech was wrong-footed but the ball sailed, just, past his post. "The attention should not be drawn to the managers but to the game and it was a difficult, hard battle between two teams who wanted to with this game," Villas-Boas said. It was a fair result. But not one contested in the fairest of atmospheres.