Nothing is ever routine with Tottenham Hotspur, but they secured the point needed last night to ensure qualification for the Uefa Cup round of 32. Harry Redknapp’s fears about his inadequate squad were realised as they were forced to fight back from 2-0 down against Spartak Moscow, who began to tire after the break.

The Tottenham manager described giving away both goals as “diabolical”, but they finished second in the group and will be paired against a team dropping out of the Champions League in today’s draw for the last 32. “I won’t be sat in a social club, with a drink, jumping up and down hoping for a big draw,” he said, in jest.

Redknapp has already promised substantial changes to the squad — the club have been offered the chance to resurrect a deal for Andrei Arshavin, the Zenit St Petersburg forward — but Gilberto is unlikely to feature again. The Brazil left back, who joined Spurs less than a year ago, was guilty of an horrendous mistake to give Spartak the lead and was substituted at half-time, the third time in six starts that he has been taken off during the break. “He was happy to come off,” Redknapp said. “He doesn’t really have a future here. He doesn’t feel confident here.”

On top of injuries to three defenders, Redknapp could be without Luka Modric and Aaron Lennon, who suffered a groin injury, for the match away to Newcastle United on Sunday. Modric, who scored his first goal for the club with their opener, complained about a tight hamstring. Neither will train today.

An animated Redknapp spent the opening minutes complaining to Vasco Antonio, the fourth official, that he was blocking his view by standing on the touchline, but he soon had greater concerns. Spartak, needing to win to have a chance of qualifying, provided an early taste of their ambitions. Artem Dzyuba, at the hub of their best attacks, exchanged passes with Vadislav Rizhkov, but shot weakly at Heurelho Gomes from ten yards.

The Spartak forward had better luck after Gilberto’s error. The left back, making his second appearance this season, inexplicably allowed Gareth Bale’s pass to run across his body, hoping for Gomes to collect, but Dzyuba nipped in to slide the ball through the Tottenham goalkeeper’s legs. Gilberto made a similar awful mistake on his debut that gave PSV Eindhoven a 1-0 victory in this competition last season.

Tottenham’s modest crowd were hushed and Spartak sensed the anxiety. Dzyuba ran on to a precision pass, calmly swerved around Gomes and slipped the ball into the empty net. Without their two main strikers, Tottenham were toothless and predictable. Modric failed to generate enough power from a header, Michael Dawson flicked the ball over the bar and Tom Huddlestone’s 30-yard driven shot was beaten away by Stipe Pletikosa, the goalkeeper.

Tottenham were fortunate not to concede a third goal from Didier Zokora’s poor overhead kick, but within seconds the complexion of the match had changed. Lennon scuttled past several defenders and delivered a low cross that was swept in by Modric. Six minutes later Huddlestone stooped to head in from Bale’s cross, bringing the teams level. Tottenham pressed for a winning goal and Modric saw his close-range flick saved.

Michael Laudrup, the Spartak coach, was unable to repeat the win over Tottenham he enjoyed with Getafe in a Uefa Cup match last year, after which Martin Jol was dismissed as Spurs manager. “I was satisfied with the performance but they were able to impose their rhythm,” Laudrup said.

Redknapp has made known his antipathy to the competition’s format, but admitted that he would have been “bothered” to have been knocked out.

Tottenham Hotspur (4-4-2): H Gomes — C Gunter, M Dawson, D Zokora, Gilberto (sub: A Lennon, 46min) — D Bentley, T Huddlestone, J O’Hara, G Bale — F Campbell, L Modric. Substitutes not used: C Sanchez, B Assou-Ekotto, J Bostock, D Parrett, D Dervite, J Obika. Booked: Zokora

Spartak Moscow (4-4-2): S Pletikosa — S Parshivlyuk, M Jiránek, M Fathi, C Rodriguez — R Shishkin (sub: N Bazhenov, 85), V Rizhkov (sub: M Grigorev, 59), S Covalciuc, I Saenko — A Maloyan (sub: A Zotov, 72), A Dzyuba. Substitutes not used: S Dzhanaev, M Stranzl, A Pavlenko, A Prudnikov.