Sainsbury has been battling to get into the PSV starting side since he joined the Eredivisie league leaders after the World Cup.

He and Behich were snapped up by new PSV boss Mark van Bommel after the former Dutch international saw them both in action up close as assistant to his Socceroos World Cup head coach father-in-law Bert van Marwijk.

But they have both struggled for game time since arriving late for pre-season following the World Cup and the team went on a winning run at domestic level.

Sainsbury's big break this morning came when he was brought on for the last 10 minutes just moments after Harry Kane had levelled the scores for Spurs after Luuk de Jong had given PSV an early lead in the second minute.

Iin the final moments of regular time, another Kane header took one deflection in the box off a PSV defender before deflecting again off Sainsbury – and beating the wrong-footed keeper.

The unlucky Socceroo was powerless to avoid the deflection and after the game, his international and club team-mate Behich was quick to rally behind him.

"It's part of football, deflections and whatnot, and Trent's a professional," Behich told Optus Sports' Mark Schwarzer post-match.

"You know he'll just brush that aside. He knows how to deal with everything. He'll just keep taking it in his stride, I guess."

Behich added: "He did well when he came on - it wasn't an easy situation to be in. We had a few chances at the end to maybe steal it but it wasn't to be tonight .

"My teammates put in a good fight til the end but it just wasn't to be."