HARRY HALTS THE JOSE JINX
THIS old dog can learn new tricks after all. The consensus, even from some Tottenham fans, was that Jose Mourinho’s magic had worn off.
But 16 years after he first swept on to these shores as the selfstyled Special One, this greyer and grumpier manager pulled of a rare first in his career — winning a Premier League match at St James’ Park.
In his seven previous top-flight visits to Tyneside with Chelsea and Manchester United, the best Mourinho had left with was a point, losing four times, his worst record at any English ground.
And you would not have backed him to end his hoodoo here considering Tottenham’s away performances since the restart.
But yesterday Mourinho finally banished what was an unusual blot on his c.v. at the cherished home of his old mentor, Sir Bobby Robson.
‘It is special for me,’ admitted the Tottenham manager. ‘Finally, I can leave the stadium and look at Mr Robson’s statue and laugh with him, because every time I have come here before, I have left the stadium and looked at him with a sad face.’
That Mourinho left St James’ smiling was down to his own interventions and the instincts of Harry Kane.
It was two of the Portuguese’s substitutes, Steven Bergwijn and Erik Lamela, who set up the goals for Kane after Matt Ritchie had cancelled out Son Heungmin’s opener.
And not only has 26-year- old Kane now passed 20 goals for the season for the sixth straight campaign, he has reached the landmark of 200 club career goals, posting on Twitter: ‘Very proud. On to the next 200.’
Mourinho said: ‘Harry knows how important he is, he is incredible. He is a young guy and to have 200 goals at this age with the remaining years he has in front of him, it is very normal that he speaks about going for 200 more. I am with him.’
The bigger picture from this result is that Mourinho’s men have now moved above Sheffield United — who visit Leicester tonight — into seventh place, which may be enough to qualify for the Europa League.
‘We had resilience and a great desire to win the match and to fight until the last for our objective, which is the Europa League,’ added Mourinho.
‘Since I started we are fourth in the table. If we cannot get the Champions League then the Europa League is important.’
Nobody deserved this victory more than Serge Aurier, who was a surprise starter for Spurs just two days after his younger brother Christopher was shot dead outside a nightclub in Toulouse. Mourinho revealed the right back had requested to play before flying to France to be with his family — and each of his team-mates made a beeline to hug him before kick-off.
Aurier was involved in Tottenham’s 27th- minute opener straight after the mid-half drinks break — a stoppage which halted the momentum the hosts had built up.
The defender’s cross was cut out by Fabian Schar, who then took a clumsy, heavy touch as he tried to walk the ball out which was intercepted by Lucas Moura. A quick exchange of passes between Moura, Kane and Giovani Lo Celso found Son on the left edge of the area, and he shifted inside before squeezing a shot through the legs of DeAndre Yedlin to beat Martin Dubravka at his near post.
Newcastle almost equalised before half-time when Dwight Gayle headed against the woodwork from Jonjo Shelvey’s cross — but they did get a leveller 11 minutes into the second half.
Valentino Lazaro, who had only been on a minute, ran at the heart of the Spurs defence and, though he lost control, Aurier carelessly cleared the ball to Matt Ritchie, who smashed a stunning strike past Hugo Lloris from the left angle of the box.
Mourinho acted instantly by bringing Bergwijn on for Moura and, only three minutes after his introduction, Bergwijn hooked a cross in from the right to Kane, who peeled off the back of Emil Krafth and steered his header across Dubravka.
Kane grabbed his second in the last minute, heading in the rebound after Lamela had raced through the Newcastle defence and Dubravka stopped his shot.
It was a harsh scoreline on the hosts, who had 22 shots to Tottenham’s eight. But they have now lost three in a row and with Schar suffering a suspected dislocated shoulder and Allan Saint-Maximin injuring a calf, their season is in danger of ending with a whimper.
‘It’s the best we’ve played in a long time,’ said manager Steve Bruce. ‘We were safe months ago but their attitude and application were excellent. You don’t always get what you deserve.’