Kane on target as Spurs cruise in Hong Kong

Hong Kong: Premier League top sharpshooter Harry Kane played just 15 minutes but still had time to score as Tottenham cruised to a 4-1 victory over newly-crowned Hong Kong champions Kitchee on Friday

Son Heung-Min delighted his legions of Asian fans by scoring the opener, Vincent Janssen added the second and 18-year-old Kazaiah Sterling another at the Hong Kong Football Stadium.

Lucas bagged Kitchee’s consolation a minute from time.

Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino clearly had the well-being of his players who will shortly be off on international duty firmly in mind when he left all but one of his England quintet on the bench.

Only Kyle Walker made the starting line-up with Kane, who was shaking off a flu-type bug, Dele Alli, Eric Dier and Kieran Trippier all leaving their tracksuits on at the start.

Hong Kong’s Spurs fans saved their biggest cheers in the first half for Son, the most successful Asian player in the history of the English Premier League with 31 goals so far in just two seasons with the North London club.

And the South Korean did not disappoint the 27,568 crowd by being constantly involved in a lively first half.

On 14 minutes he had the ball in the net bringing a huge roar but the flag was raised for a marginal offside.

Three minutes later he found the net again and this time it counted when he intercepted a poor clearance just outside the box and curled home a right-foot shot.

Spurs doubled their advantage in the 20th minute when Ben Davies, having been slipped in on the left by Kevin N’Koudou’s clever reverse pass, crossed for Janssen to knock home.

Hong Kong champions Kitchee were not overawed, with centre-forward Janssen earlier having to turn defender at a corner to hacking clear Helio Goncalves’s powerful header off the line.

Spurs made a raft of substitutions for the second half, Alli, Dier, Trippier, Jan Vertonghen and Victor Wanyama all getting a run-out, but Kane stayed on the bench.

Janssen forced a terrific 54th-minute save from Wang Zhenpeng, who palmed his fierce shot onto the bar.

A massive roar greeted Kane as he finally emerged from the bench to warm-up in the 65th minute with the crowd eagerly anticipating their chance to see the Premier League Golden Boot winner in action.

Another substitute, 18-year-old striker Kazaiah Sterling came on in the 70th minute and almost scored with his first touch, a header that brought another top-drawer save from Wang.

— AFP