Andre Villas-Boas believes Tim Krul's performance was the difference between the sides as Tottenham fell to defeat at home to Alan Pardew's Newcastle.
Villas-Boas admitted it was a hard pill to swallow after watching his players consistently thwarted as the second period wore on.
"Well, it was difficult to take," the Portuguese said.
"Obviously we have to look at ourselves and recognise that our first half was very, very poor.
"That is the negative part of the game and the positive part is that we have reacted so strongly. I think that the result is unfair, given what we created, particularly in the second half.
"I think Tim Krul was the key to the game. He made the difference.
"Newcastle made a good start and we made a poor start ourselves, so we've responded with a good second half but that 45-minute advantage was probably the blow for us.
"Our disappointment comes from that, although I still think had one of those opportunities gone in we would have won the game."
Krul, though, was not to be beaten, producing fantastic saves to deny Roberto Soldado, Paulinho and Gylfi Sigurdsson amongst others.
The save from Soldado's first-half header was Pardew's favourite, although there were so many he admitted it was hard to keep track of them all.
