ONE HUNDRED & NIFTY
Gunslinger Kane rides into town and shoots down Bilic’s brave Baggies
HARRY KANE does not need a black stetson to show how mean he is, but he’s just about as cruel and ruthless as they come.
Slaven Bilic said West Brom are in for a relegation gunfight, then watched in horror as Spurs called on the greatest gunslinger around.
The England hitman’s killer 88th- minute header was his 13th goal of the season and it proved unlucky for an Albion side who had given everything they could.
Kane rode into town just when Spurs needed a hero, scoring t he 150th Premier League goal of his career.
It moved them to the top of the table for the first time in six years, even if it was only briefly as Leicester’s win then knocked them back to second.
It did not look like it was going to be that way as Bilic’s side put in the kind of performance they are going to need if they are to get out of trouble.
Jose Mourinho ( below) knew his men had been run close, and it was cruel on Albion – but, it should be said, all the pointers from this are they do have enough to survive, but need that elusive first win sooner rather than later.
Kane might be playing deeper these days but in the end it was a moment of true class that proved the difference,.
He rose beautifully to meet a superb Matt Doherty cross and calm ly flipped the ball over goalkeeper Sam Johnstone to wrap up victory. The Baggies keeper could hardly believe it as he looked back towards his net. Only minutes earlier he had made a brilliant one- handed stop to deny Lucas Moura.
Just before that Hugo Lloris made an acrobatic f lying s save to tip away a gla glancing header from Darne Darnell Furlong which could so easily have given The Baggies t he points. When
Matheus Pereira and Branislav Ivanovic were forced out of the reckoning after testing positive for Covid- 19, Bilic must have been thinking the gods were against him.
But he could not have asked an awful lot more of his players against a Spurs attacking line of Kane, Heung- min Son and Gareth Bale ( right, who had an ice pack on his leg after going off but just as a precaution).
It was Mourinho who would have been the more concerned after seeing his side having to go toe- to- toe with an enthuenthu siastic home team who gave them quite a few problems.
True, they should have been in front early on when Son took an n uncharacteristically ly long time to line up a shot when presented with a great chance, allowing Semi
Ajayi to block. But after that it was largely Albion who threatened to break the deadlock. And just a few minutes after Son’s effort, Tot ten ham were left thanking Eric Die rf or a brilliant piece of defending.
Callum Robinson open opened Spurs up on the left f lank, clipped a superb ball towards the far post and
Karlan Grant was ready to apply t he f i ni shing t ouch , before Dier r ose and j ust managed to skim the ball away with the top of his head.
Grant had gone close not ot long before when he was clear ar si x yard s out but needed d another inch to meet Furlong’s g’s centre.
It was close but there was to be no cigar as master hitman n Kane had the final word with h a textbook finish.