Kane thankful to end goal drought against Saints

Tottenham star man Harry Kane shrugged off recent criticism of his form following his goalscoring performance in his side’s 4-1 win over Southampton.

Kane chipped in with a goal to end his three match goal drought in the league, and despite missing a penalty for the London team, was as usual a key man for the Champions League-qualification-chasing side.

“Southampton is a tough game for any team and we have come here and scored four in a comfortable win in the end,” said Kane post-match.

“People had been talking, saying that I hadn't scored for one or two games but that's the position I am in. I was thankful to score today. The ground gave way under me for the penalty, I had seen before the game that there was a new square of turf and it just gave way.”

Midfielder Dele Alli bagged two of Tottenham’s four strikes and praised his side’s ability to stick to the task having gone 1-0 down after just 69 seconds.

“It's never nice to concede so early but we didn't panic and stuck to our gameplan,” said Alli. “After the first goal for us it was a good game and a big statement.”

Southampton midfielder James Ward-Prowse refused to be drawn on whether referee Mike Dean made the right decision to send off his team-mate Nathan Redmond in the second half, a moment which inevitably changed the momentum of the game as Spurs went on to score two and finish the game.

“It changed the game. Whether it is a red card or not is the referee's decision," said Ward-Prowse. "Nathan had to make the challenge to stop Alli scoring.”

Ward-Prowse commended his side for their industrious and goal-scoring opening to the tie, but lamented their inability to get a second goal to give them breathing room early on.

"Of course it’s frustrating to lose after making such a strong start. The ten-day break did us good and we can take positives from our start,” continued Ward-Prowse.

“We put them under pressure but couldn't sustain that. The way we pressed is hard to maintain throughout the game. You want to get a second or third to kill the game.

"Even at down to ten men we sensed we could have got back into the game. But they were clinical with their chances."

Saints boss Claude Puel echoed the thoughts of Ward-Prowse regarding the red card as he pinpointed that as the moment Saints lost the game in reality.

“With the red card it was too difficult to come back and we conceded another two goals. The red card is the end of the game for us,” said Puel.

“The two players went for the ball, I don't know I didn't see the action. This gave Spurs the opportunity to win the game.”

Photo: Getty/Julian Finney

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