PSV were in the box seat when they took an early lead after just two minutes when a bullet header from Luuk de Jong (brother of injured Sydney FC marquee Siem) smashed into the back of the net.

Harry Kane finally levelled the scores in the 79th minute when he managed to thread a ball through the defence and past the keeper.

Sainsbury was brought on off the bench to shore up his side for the last 10 minutes but with just a minute of regular time left on the clock, a header in the box pinballed into the net.

Harry Kane leapt to the ball but it flicked off one defender and then deflected onto Sainsbury's leg, sending the wrong-footed keeper flailing and unable to reach it in time.

After the game, Sainsbury channelled Mario Balotelli and told Optus Sport presenter Mark Schwarzer: "Why me?

"Both teams created chances and they had the better of it," he said. "You'd probably have to say at the end of the day they deserved the win."

The defender hailed the training ground move that gave them the early goal from a corner after Dele Alli was blocked out by PSV players.

"It worked like a charm," he said. "We worked on it during the week and it came off like a cherry.

"But we just didn't take advantage of the rest of our set pieces in the game."

He praised the quality of Spurs striker Harry Kane who never stopped causing problems for the PSV defence.

"He's a typical goalscorer, getting goals in the box and that's why he's world class," said Sainsbury. "Our goalkeeper had his hands full today.

"He had a magnificent game and for me was man of the match - no doubt about it."

The Socceroo also paid tribute to PSV's travelling fans who packed out the away end of Wembley stands and never stopped singing throughout the game.

"They are some of the best fans in the world," he said. "They're the most committed and we could hear them for 90 minutes, shouting and screaming their lungs out.

"It gave the boys the boost they needed."

PSV – coached by Bert van Marwijk's son in law and Socceroos assistant coach Mark van Bommel – are currently top of the Eredivisie and Sansbury has been struggling to break into the first XI.

"The team's plugging along well, five points clear at the moment," he said. "And we've got a good run of fixtures is coming up. We've just got to keep the momentum going.

"Every man's there for the team and that's the main thing."

He added: "I came in under-done and obviously a few weeks behind because of the World Cup and I had to play catch up.

"Then, you know, the team's been playing superb. You don't change a winning team and I'm just going to bide my time and take my chances when I can get them."

Optus Sport UCL coverage continues from 4.45am tomorrow.