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Soccer-Mason says Spurs should learn to protect lead

Aug 26 (Reuters) - Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Ryan Mason says the team must learn to protect their lead in matches after dropping four points from winning positions this season. Spurs had taken a two-goal lead over Stoke City with 15 minutes left in their second Premier League match of the season but the Potters clawed their way back for a 2-2 draw. In the next match against Leicester City, the North London side took the lead through Dele Alli in the 81st minute before surrendering it the next minute with Riyad Mahrez, currently the league's leading goal-scorer, netting the equaliser. "You can't say we're not scoring goals because in our last home game against Stoke we got two and then at Leicester we scored again," Mason told the club website www.tottenhamhotspur.com). "It's just about being a bit stronger when we take the lead and seeing out games. "Obviously we got a goal late on(against Leicester), but then to concede so quickly is disappointing and something we'll look to improve on next time," added the 24-year-old. Mason hopes the team have learnt from their mistakes and the improvement will show when Everton visit White Hart Lane on Saturday. "We're confident ahead of Everton now. Although we've let two leads slip in the last two games, we firmly believe that if we take the lead we'll keep it next Saturday," the England international said. (Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru; editing by Amlan Chakraborty)