Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Andy Dunn

Steven Bergwijn sparks Tottenham pandemonium in astonishing finish at Leicester

PANDEMONIUM.

Hugo Lloris ran the length of the field to bury himself in the celebrations, Antonio Conte hurled himself at everyone in sight.

THIS is why Conte was such a brilliant appointment, THIS is why he wins things, THIS is why he is worth the big bucks, THIS could be lift-off.

Faced with the prospect of a harsh defeat - courtesy of James Maddison’s late strike - Spurs players redoubled their efforts and gave their all for the manager, the shirt, the fans.

And Conte’s inspired substitute, Steven Bergwijn, scored in the 95th and 97th minutes to send Tottenham fans into the sort of delirium that has been too often too alien to them.

Bergwijn celebrates his winner (AFP via Getty Images)

Leicester’s defence crumbled and Bergwijn took advantage of a mix-up involving Caglar Soyuncu to equalise and he then galloped on to a through pass and squeezed in the unlikeliest of winners.

In the frenzied celebrations, no-one was more animated than Harry Kane.

No wonder. He did not deserve to be on a losing side.

Kane looked something like his vintage best at times.

He missed a sitter, took a dreadful free-kick, could only find the crossbar with a free header and hit a couple of long-rangers into the stands.

But believe it or not, this was as sharp as Kane has looked for some time.

There was a peach of a goal, attempts galore, clever link-up play, and a couple of telling through passes.

These are the early throes of another big year for Kane, a year in which he will be expected to spearhead England’s challenge at Qatar 2022.

The World Cup, of course, is eight months down the line but between now and then, he will be desperate to re-establish a prolific scoring groove.

And if he had to pick a team to help kick-start a goal surge, it would surely have been Leicester City.

Harry Kane turned in a terrific performance (Action Images via Reuters)

He has scored that many times against the Dane, Kane should get to keep Kasper Schmeichel.

It is 15 against the Dane and 18 against Leicester, overall.

Kane had already seen an effort improbably cleared off the line by Luke Thomas and had seen that header shake the bar before finding his latest way past Schmeichel.

And by then, Leicester had taken an improbable lead when Patson Daka finished cleverly after a counter-attack ended with Sergio Reguilon providing an unintentional assist for the Zambian striker.

Spurs players celebrated with delirious fans at full-time (AFP via Getty Images)

Kane’s leveller was trademark stuff - a well-timed run on to a Harry Winks pass, a cut inside that left Soyuncu on his backside and a precise low finish.

Considering Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg had also seen an effort thwarted by the last defender and Lucas Moura had brought a fine save out of Schmeichel, the equaliser ahead of half-time was no more than Spurs deserved.

In spells, this was probably as fluent as Spurs have looked under Conte, although they were vulnerable to the quick attacking riposte and Maddison wasted one good early second half chance to restore the lead for a Leicester side that welcomed back James Justin for a 40-minute cameo after 11 months out.

More often than not, Leicester are always in a football match because of their capability on the counter-attack and so it proved as Maddison made the incision to give Leicester what looked like the winning goal.

But up stepped Bergwijn. Up stepped Conte.

He definitely has lift-off.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.