Kane breaks Baggies’ resistance to rescue a point
HARRY KANE was the Tottenham hero once again after his tap in broke managerless West Brom’s resistance to rescue a point.
After sacking Tony Pulis on Monday, West Brom arrived under the care of Gary Megson — Pulis’s assistant — and took a fourth-minute lead.
Spurs were not fully up to speed as Jake Livermore found space to slip in Salomon Rondon, the big striker shrugging off the attention of Davinson Sanchez before slotting the ball past Hugo Lloris and into the far corner.
The opener rattled the hosts, who responded with efforts from Kane, Eric Dier and Son Heung-Min all being denied by Baggies goalkeeper Ben Foster.
Pressure was rising and Spurs finally got their reward on 74 minutes. Dele Alli worked his way into space on the edge of the West Brom penalty area and drilled in a cross which his England team-mate Kane rifled low into the corner.
Spurs tried to push for a winner in the final 15 minutes — with West Brom content to sneak a point, highlighted by the booking of Foster for time wasting — but Christian Eriksen, Alli and Kane all came up fruitless.
Home manager Mauricio Pochettino conceded: ‘I think we are disappointed because the effort from us was massive but we conceded the goal so early in the game, and they had the belief to play deep, so it was hard for us to move the ball.
‘In the last 15 minutes, we increased our level and created a lot of chances to score but we weren’t clinical.
‘It is always difficult in the Premier League when you concede a goal so early, it changes the way the team wants to play.
‘We took a lot of risks trying to score and we didn’t concede many chances. They had the chance when they scored and one in the second half.
‘The result is 1-1 and I’m disappointed because we lose two points. Now, we need to look forward and try to win the next game.
And so life after Pulis begins with a point for West Brom but, for Spurs, the results means that they could trail Manchester City by 13 points by the end of the weekend.
Crystal Palace picked up just their second league win of the season after Mamadou Sakho struck late to secure the three points at home to Stoke.
Roy Hodgson’s men are still bottom of the table but only three points behind West Brom, who sit 17th.
In what was a dreary encounter, Xherdan Shaqiri brought a spark to the game on 53 minutes with a sublime solo effort to put Stoke ahead.
Their lead lasted only three minutes as Ruben Loftus-Cheek knocked home.
Then, in added time, Stoke defender Ryan Shawcross was unable to deal with Yohan Cabaye’s cross and Sakho pounced to make it eight points since Frank de Boer was sacked after 77 days in charge.
Newcastle lost their fourth consecutive top-flight match after a 3-0 home defeat to Watford.
Will Hughes put the Hornets in front inside 20 minutes before a DeAndre Yedlin own goal made it 2-0 to Marco Silva’s side before the break.
Club-record signing Andre Gray struck on 62 minutes to complete the scoring.
Swansea are without a win in five league matches but picked up a precious point with a 0-0 draw at the Liberty Stadium against Bournemouth.