Hope for glory

Bailly’s quick thinking prevented Alli from turning in the rebound.

De Gea still had two more crucial saves to make before the break, first palming Alli’s fierce near-post shot over the bar and then sticking out a foot to deny Kane from a similar position.

The United goalkeeper could do nothing, however, three minutes into the second half when Kane poked Eriksen’s cross past him for the second goal of the game.

And then the rain came. As a shower dampened the atmosphere, for a moment it threatened to go a bit ‘Spursy’.

Old Spurs, that is. Over the years, this is a club that has got itself a reputation for failing to deliver just when they looked on the cusp of a return to the sort of glory they revelled in during the early Sixties.

Suddenly a nervousness seemed to run through the team, as though nobody wanted to be the one to fill the final chapter with the wrong sort of final memory. It was more of a collective failure, though, that led to the final goal at this ground. Anthony Martial was allowed to get in around the back and his cross was stabbed into the net as Jan Vertonghen failed to react in time.

The scorer? Wayne Rooney – another institution that conjures a bucketful of amazing memories but which is sadly no longer fit for purpose at the very highest level in the modern day.

Even then, Phil Jones’ remarkable goal-line clearance when it looked like Alli had closed the book on the White Hart Lane story maintained the concern that this game might not go quite as planned.

However, when Marcus Rashford burst past Jan Vertonghen only to shoot over the bar, the countdown to the end began in earnest.

Flags waved as “Glory, glory, Tottenham Hotspur” was sung more as a reverential hymn than a celebratory anthem. In all senses, saying goodbye to White Hart Lane was a job effectively as well as gloriously done.

TOTTENHAM UTD Booked: NEXT UP: Referee: (4-2-3-1): Booked: NEXT UP: (4-2-3-1): Goals: