OWEN Coyle felt hard done by as his side were thumped 4-1 at home by Spurs to leave their Premier League fate hanging in the balance.

The Wanderers boss bemoaned his side's defending for Rafael van der Vaart's second-half goal, which sent the North Londoners on their way to a comfortable victory but felt Luka Modric's opener should not have stood.

Nigel Reo-Coker levelled the game just after the break, but after van der Vaart had restored Spurs' lead, Emmanuel Adebayor struck 60 seconds later before adding his second before the end.

Coyle believes the scoreline flattered Wanderers' opponents.

“I'm standing here a bit bemused and bewildered to think what we've offered to the game and that we've lost 4-1,” he said.

“A lot of things went against us. It was a wonder goal from Luka Modric but it should never have been a goal in the first place – Sandro has punched the ball on, the referee is well positioned to give it, but he hasn't.

“We came out well for the second half and out play was fantastic, the goal, the move itself, and then from that point on we were the team who looked capable of winning the game.

“My big disappointment was the second goal. It could have been easily prevented.

“We had two or three chances to win a tackle on the half way line, and then even when it went towards van der Vaart, we had two players who could have put a block on his run.

“At 2-1 down we are still in the game, given our level of performance, but then we shot ourselves in the foot.”

With Fabrice Muamba making an appearance on the field just before the players came out on the pitch, the scene looked set for Wanderers to continue their excellent home record in the Premier League against Tottenham.

Unbeaten in 11 years at the Reebok – the signs looked good when Reo-Coker's 50th minute strike triggered his side's best period of the game.

But while the visitors hit against the run of play, Coyle still believes his team should have handled themselves better.

“I know we're a young team but you have to stand up and be resolute when things go against you,” he said. “We should have started playing our way into the game.

“It's not a nice feeling because we felt there were points in the game.

“I can always accept when people are better than you but that wasn't the case. It was self-inflicted.

“Now we have got to pick ourselves up for two huge games, starting with West Brom on Sunday.”