Defeat dents Winksy's pride on 'special' day

A result he wanted to instantly forget, but a day he’ll always remember. Harry Winks completed the journey from Academy prospect to Tottenham Hotspur captain on Sunday, a moment he’ll cherish for years to come.

For now, though, the pain of defeat overrides all feelings for a player who first joined our youth set up at the age of six. Over 130 appearances, a Champions League Final and six England caps later, he proudly led the team out against Wolves at the new stadium, aged 24.

“The manager told me before the game that I would be captain and it was a special moment,” said ‘Winksy’, in fine form in the central midfield areas. “I couldn’t wait to tell my family and they were so proud as well, but it takes away how special it is when you lose the game.

“I’ll go away and I’ll look back at this as a really proud day for me and my family to captain Spurs and to have the opportunity to lead the players out was really nice, but to come away with a defeat nullifies that a little.”

Even more frustrating was the belief we deserved more. We started well, took the lead through Steven Bergwijn and having conceded an equaliser, grabbed the lead again before half-time with a beauty from Serge Aurier.

We had chances to make it 3-1 but Wolves struck next for 2-2 and Raul Jimenez won it on the counter in the 73rd minute.

“It was a strange game, we played so well,” added Harry, who has started our last 11 matches in all competitions. “We were in control in the first half and it didn’t look like it was going to go any other way than us winning.

“It’s probably one of the best performances as a team we’ve had this season.

“We did everything the manager said to do from last week’s game (at Chelsea) when we weren’t good enough. We were aggressive, we kept the ball, we created opportunities. It’s such a shame that we lost.

“It’s tough. We haven’t seen the goals back but there are obviously things we should have done better. The manager has told us what he believes we should have done, and we know it as well. When you're winning you have to be cuter and find ways of stopping the transition, stopping the counter and we weren’t good enough at that today. Everything else we were spot on with, but that’s the way we lost the game.”