Martin Jol’s job seems to have been hanging by a thread for much of the season, but just when it appeared that the thread would snap last night, his Tottenham Hotspur team staged a memorable comeback to draw 4-4 with Aston Villa and perhaps stave off the immediate threat of his dismissal as manager.

On an extraordinary evening that began with the North London club celebrating their 125th anniversary, Tottenham came from 4-1 down to rescue a point. Younes Kaboul scored in stoppage time to unleash scenes of relief bordering on delirium around White Hart Lane.

“Of course, I was thinking about my future when we were losing 4-1, but I have been thinking about my future for the past six weeks,” Jol said. “I never thought about throwing in the towel. You saw the commitment of my players – their heart is in it.”

Robbie Keane, who scored the penalty that reduced Tottenham’s deficit to 4-3 in the 82nd minute, insisted that the Dutchman had the full support of the players, although the club remain in the bottom three in the Barclays Premier League. “You should have seen him at the end when we scored the [fourth] goal,” Keane, the Tottenham captain, said. “He’s shown what a good manager he is over the past couple of years. We’re going through a bit of sticky patch at the moment.”

Tottenham looked dead and buried after Craig Gardner put Villa 4-1 ahead in the 59th minute, but goals by Pascal Chimbonda, Keane and Kaboul left Martin O’Neill, the Villa manager, scratching his head. “I knew it was not over when we went 4-1 up,” O’Neill said. “Tottenham threw everything at us, but we are a young side. I have an awful lot of respect for Martin Jol.”

Despite the fightback, however, only Tottenham’s failure to attract a big-name successor appears to be keeping Jol in his job. The Dutchman is plainly not viewed as the man to match the club’s ambitions and it seems only a matter of time before they part company. His position has been virtually untenable since he became embroiled in a battle with Daniel Levy, the chairman, and Damien Comolli, the sporting director, which ended with club officials offering the post to other managers.

After the 3-1 home defeat by Arsenal on September 15, Jol was reportedly given six matches to save his job. The board is thought likely to reassess his position during the international break next week.

Jol has suffered the humiliation of a meeting taking place behind his back between senior board members and Juande Ramos, the highly rated Seville coach, in August, which undermined his position. Ramos has said that he will remain at the Spanish club until the end of his contract in the summer, but it is believed that Tottenham have not given up on persuading him to come to London.

The club have also pursued José Mourinho. They tried to contact him on five occasions on the day that he left Chelsea last month and were willing to match Mourinho’s salary of more than £5 million a year, but the Portuguese has since said that his next job will not be in England.

Jol is believed to have been in touch with the League Managers Association, seeking its support if he is dismissed. It is believed that he will be paid a compensation package worth up to £4 million should the club terminate his contract, which has a little less than three years to run.

Tottenham had taken an early lead last night when Dimitar Berbatov scored his second league goal of the season, but Villa scored three times inside 18 minutes before the break. When Gardner added a fourth early in the second half, it seemed as if Tottenham were going to endure one of their worst home defeats in modern times.

Jol responded by bringing on Jermain Defoe as his side surged forward. Chimbonda reduced the deficit to 4-2 and Keane set up a remarkable finale when he scored a penalty eight minutes from time, Kaboul completing the recovery.

“We conceded some awful goals, but it was more because of bad communication rather than a lack of leadership,” Jol said. “I felt horrible when we went 4-1 down. I was embarrassed.

“We will work on our defensive problems, but we have the youngest back four in the league. In the second half, we had to play for the shirt and I think my players did that.”