Kinnear: 'Did Anyone Expect Me To Stay As Long As This?'
"It wouldn't have happened for me if the financial world was not in the state it's in. Things have gone for me in that respect, I realise that."I'd like to think we are heading in the right direction. I'm very proud of my record, at least I'm getting on with the job. Hopefully I will continue in the same vein.
"Above all I have a good relationship with the players and I'm getting the best out of them. That's the only thing that keeps you in a job as a manager.
"I just feel confidence is sky high at the moment and we felt we had a good chance of beating Tottenham after the win at Portsmouth. We believe in ourselves, we're up for the fight and we always give it a go. We are getting our reward for that.
"We were the better side until they scored - and the less I say about that the better in terms of their player being offside - but then we had to stick in there, like we did at Chelsea, and that's the good thing about us.
"We are starting to look upwards now, but it's still very tight at the bottom and I'm wary of getting on a bad run, particularly as I'm concerned about the length of time my injured players are going to be out for.
"Shola (Ameobi) has picked up a hamstring strain and that's going to be seven to ten days.
"We haven't been able to finish the game with the same players we started with since I arrived at the club.
"Damien Duff and Mark Viduka gave us quality off the bench and that's very important. I'm very pleased with all three of my wide men, but only two of them can play and Charles N'Zogbia has done very well since he came into the side when Damien picked up an injury.
"As for Mark, he still isn't fully fit and it has taken him a long while to get back from this ankle injury. He hasn't got the pace he used to, but he is such an intelligent player, very bright and we saw that with the touch which set up the second goal."