Match Report: Harry Kane and Able as Spurs Dent QPR's Survival Hopes
The only Premier League encounter this weekend came at a sun-drenched Loftus Road as Tottenham made the short trip across London to face relegation-threatened QPR. It was the second time in the space of 4 days that QPR came up against north London opposition having succumbed to a 2-1 defeat to Arsenal in midweek. For Spurs, they looked to move on from the Capital One Cup final loss to Chelsea last weekend and make it back-to-back league wins for the first time in a month.
Bobby Zamora came closest to opening the scoring in the early exchanges after clipping the Spurs crossbar with a looping effort, while at the other end, Harry Kane forced Rob Green into a smart stop from 6-yards as the goalkeeper turned the striker’s close-range header over for a corner. Charlie Austin was presented with a golden opportunity to net following some calamitous Kyle Walker defending, but Hugo Lloris was on hand to clear away the danger, while Matty Phillips managed to drag an effort wide of the near post from 18-yards as the R’s grew into the half.
Roy Hodgson was in attendance at Loftus Road and he must have been enthused by Austin’s performance in the opening half hour after he came closest to breaking the deadlock with 15 minutes of the half remaining. The 25-year-old shifted the ball onto his left before unleashing a rasping effort that beat Lloris, but, unfortunately for the hosts, rattled the crossbar and was cleared by the Spurs defence. However, it was the north London side who took the initiative, with Kane nodding past Green having been picked out by Andros Townsend at the back post from a Spurs free kick. In the battle between Austin and Kane, it was the latter who landed the first blow.
Spurs came out for the second half all guns blazing and almost doubled their advantage just minutes after the interval. Christian Eriksen cut inside from the left and let fly from 20-yards, only to see his curling right-footed drive strike the post. The rebound fell to Kane, but the young frontman was unable to turn his effort into the back of the net. Townsend then let fly from distance, only to see his rising drive end up in the stands as Spurs strived to wrap up all 3 points shortly after the restart.
While Kane had put the visitors in front, it was adversary Austin who denied Spurs a second. Kane started a good move on the right, before the ball eventually fell to Eriksen. The Dane looked set to double Spurs’ advantage, only for Austin to deny the midfielder with a superb last ditch clearance on the line. The away side, however, all but
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