Kane delivers again to give lacklustre Spurs three points as he nods home only goal against Wolves
By Paul Lagan at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Spurs 1 v Wolves 0
61,298
Give Harry Kane a free header six yards out, in front of an empty net, he will score. Unfortunately that’s exactly why Wolves are heading up the motorway without any points as Spurs scrapped home 1-0 against a bang average outfit from the Midlands.
The fact that Wolves dominated the first half without anything to show for it, would have given Spurs boss Antonio Conte an easier half-time team talk.
He knew that if he could inject some extra pace and positivity in his charges, he would get the chances - as Kane proved on 64 minutes.
The 12.30pm kick-off is something English football simply hasn't been able to get to grips with.
The stupor of the home side’s performance in the opening 45 minutes suggested they were munching away at the full English breakfast, many of the fans were doing prior to kick-off.
It certainly was a reflection on their lacklustre endeavour, and Wolves will rue their inability to take advantage.
Wolves settled the quickest and it needed bit of quick thinking by goalkeeper Hugo Lloris to get behind a wonderful 20-yard volley from Ruben Neves on six mo utes.
A nice run and shot by Goncalo Guedes three minutes later saw his effort go inches wide of Lloris goal.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg was first into referee Simon Hopper’s book on 12 mo jets fo4 a needless foul in midfield.
Spurs, by contrast seemed to feel uncomfortable bring the ball out from the back and developing moves in midfield.
They struggled early on to get behind Wolves high line. There preferred option of breaking on the counter-track is certainly more intuitive, if less frequent.
The visitors looked very comfortable when building attacks, they just locked the cutting edge in the final third.
A snap shot by Daniel Podence almost took Spurs by surprise on 33 minutes but the effort went wide.
Wolves dispossessed Son in midfield and quickly broke but Guedes shot, on target, was weak and failed to trouble Lloris with seven minutes left of the first half.
After another fine play by Wolves, Matheus Luiz Nunes stole in front of Eric Dier and glanced a header that he Lloris flat footed and stationary, but the ball, just went wide of his right post.
Spurs’s first real effort on goal saw. A deep byline cross by Son met by Harry Kane, but his looping header saw Jose Sa smartly tip the ball over the crossbar.
There were nor changes by either side at half-time.
Whatever was in the half-time cuppa for Spurs it seemed to have its effect as they were more positive and energetic in the opening seconds than the previous 45 minutes.
A glancing header by Son, on another day, crashes into the back of the net, this time it zips wide of goal.
A wonderful diving header quickly follows on 51 minutes - this time it’s Kane, and he rattles the Wolves crossbar.
The visitors responded well and some cultivated one-twos around the S-its area almost saw Rayan Ait-Nouri slip through but Lloris, thankfully for the Lillywhites was alert to the danger.
Spurs finally broke the deadlock and it was the simplest of goal for striker Kane, who hit away from his marker Nathan Collins and tapped home a close-range header on 65 minutes.
The goal ripped off the straitjacket that impeded the home side in the first half and they finally gave the crowd something to cheer - some clever expressive one touch play that took the ball forward, rather than the easy, low, risk option of a back /pass.
A wonderful, curling free-kick by Neves almost saw an equaliser on 74 minutes, but once again, it was just the wrong side of the post for Wolves.
Neither side could muster up sufficient energy or creativity to do any serious damage to my goal, and Spurs fans cheered with a sense of relief at final whistle.
Teams: Spurs Lloris, Hojbjerg, Sanchez, Son, Kane, Royal, Perisic, Dier, Kulusevski, Bentancur, Davies.
Subs: Forster, Doherty, Richarlison, Gil, Sessegnon, Tanganga, Moura, Lenglet, Bissouma
Wolves, Sa, Ait-Nouri, Collins, Neto, Neves, Podence, Guedes, Jonny, Kidman, Nunes, Moutinho
Subs: Sarkic, Jimenez, Hwang, Boly, Semedo, Toti, Dendoncker, Traore, Cundle
Referee: Simon Hooper
