QPR 1 - 2 Tottenham HotspursQPR: Raniere Sandro 75
Tottenham Hotspurs: Harry Kane 34, Harry Kane 68
Harry Kane kept Tottenham Hotspur in contention for Champions League qualification and surely secured an England call-up by scoring two more goals to keep Queens Park Rangers deep in peril. Roy Hodgson was at Loftus Road to watch Kane score for the sixth away game in a row and leapfrog Charlie Austin in the Premier League striking charts. Sandro pulled a goal back for the home side but Rangers could not rescue a point and remain in the relegation zone, having now lost seven of their last eight matches.
This was billed as a clash of the Premier League’s top two English goalscorers and Hodgson turned up to run the rule over the pair. Both featured prominently, but the outcome owed at least as much to the contrast between the goalkeepers’ fortunes, as Hugo Lloris enjoyed the rub of the green that his Rangers counterpart lacked, to put it charitably.
An indication that things would go the Frenchman’s way came in the very first minute, when he tipped a Bobby Zamora header over the bar and escaped without conceding a corner, as the referee seemingly thought the striker’s header went straight out. Four minutes later Austin tried his luck from 20 yards but Zamora inadvertently blocked his team-mate’s well-hit shot.
Quality was in short supply in the first half but the looseness of the game meant both sides got numerous chances, either through their own design or their opponent’s ineptitude. In the sixth minute Kyle Walker presented Kane with an early chance to impress the watching England manager but instead Hodgson must have admired the reactions of Rob Green, who showed terrific reflexes to beat away Kane’s close-range header. Green could be forgiven for wishing Hodgson had left at that point. In the 34th minute the goalkeeper charged off his line in a misguided attempt to cut out a cross from Andros Townsend; Nedum Onuoha, seemingly sensing his goalkeeper’s approach, ducked out of the way, but Green never got near the ball and Kane nodded it into the net unchallenged.
Spurs had almost made things equally easy for Austin a little before that, as Walker carelessly headed the ball straight to the striker in front of goal. But Lloris repelled Austin’s flicked shot and then dived to tip the ball off his feet. Moments later Austin did beat the goalkeeper, but his ferocious shot from 16 yards crashed back out off the crossbar.
Luck smiled on Lloris again in the 39th minute, when the goalkeeper got away with a clear foul in the box on Mauricio Isla. He hurtled off his line and performed an wild star jump as he attempted to prevent Isla from collecting a lovely chipped pass from Steven Caulker but the goalkeeper missed the ball and clipped Isla’s leg. Again the referee, Craig Pawson, apparently missed the Frenchman’s intervention.
Christian Eriksen, normally Tottenham’s most inventive player, had been a passenger for most of the first period but he started taking control early in the second as Spurs improved markedly. In the 47th minute the Dane let fly with wonderful long-range shot that flew past Green and bounced back off the post. Kane bungled the follow-up.
Caulker then goofed too, gifting the ball to Townsend 25 yards from QPR’s goal. Mercifully for the defender, Townsend shanked his shot way off target.
QPR then scrambled another Eriksen effort off their line before Zamora went close at the other end, Lloris saving at his near post after the striker had barged past Eric Dier.
With the stakes so high tempers began to fray. Mauricio Pochettino had to step on to the pitch to drag Ryan Mason away from trouble after an angry confrontation between the midfielder and Karl Henry.
It was Mason who then helped give Spurs serenity. In the 68th minute the 23-year-old flighted a perfect pass over the Rangers defence – Rio Ferdinand, having utterly lost his bearings, simply stopped, and Kane was allowed to canter into box and around Green before slotting into the net.
That put him above Austin in the Premier League scoring charts and left Rangers deep into trouble. Ferdinand had been recalled to the team after being omitted for the mid-week visit of Arsenal – the home fans counselled the 36-year-old to take another, longer rest. “Rio Ferdinand, it’s time to retire,” they wailed.
Rangers appeared to be drifting towards another defeat but in the 73rd minute they started to rebel, as Sandro guided a fine sidefooted shot into the net from the edge of the box after a neat build-up involving Austin and Zamora. It was too little, too late. Chris Ramsey will hope that does not prove to be the story of Rangers’ season.
By Peter Doyle, Guardian
