Kane seals Golden Boot with another hat-trick
KINGSTON UPON HULL: Harry Kane helped himself to a second hat-trick in four days as ruthless Tottenham Hotspur smashed relegated Hull City to end the Premier League season in style. England striker Kane finishes with 29 league goals, winning the Golden Boot ahead of Everton’s Romelu Lukaku and Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez. Dele Alli, Victor Wanyama, Ben Davies and Toby Alderweireld were also on target for the visitors, who were already guaranteed to finish second to champions Chelsea, while Sam Clucas’s second-half strike was a rare highlight for the home fans.
Kane is only the fifth player to win the Premier League’s Golden Boot in successive seasons, following Alan Shearer, Michael Owen, Thierry Henry and Robin van Persie. Kane had gone top of the scoring chart with four goals against Leicester on Thursday and showed no sign of easing up in his last outing of the season. The 23-year-old added to his impressive tally with two goals in less than three minutes.
The first was a fierce left-foot drive from 20 yards after Christian Eriksen’s square pass and the second, two minutes and 39 seconds later, capped a lovely passing move. Eric Dier’s long pass from the halfway line was perfect for Kieran Trippier to cushion into the six-yard box, where Kane was waiting to apply a firsttime finish.
The Tottenham supporters went through their songbook, even chanting support for Hull’s ex-Spurs players, Tom Huddlestone, Michael Dawson and Ryan Mason, who is recovering after suffering a fractured skull in January. Hull fans voiced support for Marco Silva, their popular head coach. “We want you to stay,” they sang.
Relegation was confirmed at Crystal Palace last week and Hull had the look of a weary outfit, while Spurs were energetic. The visitors added their third in first-half stoppage time. Kane was again involved, threading the ball through to Son Heung-Min. The South Korea international cut the ball back to Alli, who checked on to his right foot and fired his shot low under David Marshall. It was Alli’s 18th Premier League goal of the season.
Silva responded by introducing winger Kamil Grosicki in place of defender Curtis Davies and, while Spurs arguably eased up, Hull improved after the break. Oumar Niasse’s whipped low cross would surely have been converted by Clucas but for Alderweireld’s brilliant intervention before Niasse sliced a shot high and wide from a difficult angle.
Grosicki was then instrumental as Hull pulled a goal back with 24 minutes remaining. His low cross found Niasse, who after having a shot blocked, rolled the ball back for Clucas to send a deflected shot into the bottom corner. Spurs restored their advantage as Wanyama-seemingly from an offside position-headed in at the back post from Eriksen’s free-kick before Kane completed his hat-trick. —AFP