Mauricio Pochettino has lamented a “loss of concentration” for letting a lead slip at home to Newcastle United.

The lilywhites lost only their second match of the season as Ayoze Perez scored in the 93rd minute.

“It was a loss on concentration, in the first half we should have finished the game, in the second half we start to make some easy mistakes and do not kill the game.” Pochettino said.

Eric Dier’s first half opener was cancelled out by Aleksandar Mitrovic’s scrambled equaliser before Hugo Lloris let Perez’s shot fumble under him.

The Spurs boss added: “At 1-0 up you always leave an opening. It was our mistakes, maybe in the 90 minutes we deserve more but in the end the chance we concede was easy for Newcastle, our first half was fantastic, our second half we need to analyse.”

Pochettino claimed it was not a loss of energy that cost his side the result but a lack of focus.

He said: “I am not concerned, in football you can improve and after the first half we were happy. I want to see it [the second half] again, we were not the same.”

The North London side have been touted for a place in the top four this season and were looking to extend their impressive unbeaten run to 15 league matches.

With a relatively ‘easy run’ on the cards, Pochettino will be fuming his side could not take advantage of Manchester United’s defeat at Bournemouth this weekend.

He added: “If you want to play for the top positions, the pressure is massive. But it is not about the age of our squad.

“For the first 45minutes we dominated the game it was one of the better halves we play this season and that is a why we are very disappointed.”

Southampton and St Mary’s stadium is the next venue for Spurs and a chance to make amends for letting a straightforward win slip through their grasp.