Kane brace secures win as new faces appear at Ibrox

A quickfire second-half double from Harry Kane ensured victory against Rangers at Ibrox on Saturday afternoon.

The home side had taken the lead through Antonio Colak mid-way through the first half, but our in-form striker curled home a superb equaliser on 50 minutes before drilling in the winner six minutes later to maintain our unbeaten run in pre-season.

The victory also meant we were presented with the Walter Tull Memorial Cup, in memory of Britain’s first black outfield player who had links to both clubs during his career, with legendary former striker Jermain Defoe on hand to make the post-match presentation.

Despite six new signings during the summer, Antonio Conte started with 10 of the 11 that began our last game of last season at Norwich City – the injured Ben Davies the only absentee, replaced by Cristian Romero. However, by the end of the game, all six new faces were on the pitch with Yves Bissouma, Ivan Perisic, Fraser Forster, Clement Lenglet and Djed Spence all getting their first minutes in a Spurs shirt, with Richarlison playing in our colours for a third time. Ex-Celtic goalkeeper Forster received a particularly warm welcome from the home fans when he came on with 19 minutes remaining!

We made a strong start and almost went ahead on five minutes only for Allan McGregor to deny Dejan Kulusevski from close range, the first of a number of saves the Rangers goalkeeper made during the first period. The home side grew into the game though, James Tavernier firing a 20-yard free-kick over the bar before seeing an effort from a similar distance saved low down by Hugo Lloris. They made the most of their bright period, opening the scoring on 24 minutes when Tavernier flicked on Rabbi Matondo’s low cross from the right and it fell perfectly for Croatian forward Colak – a recent signing from PAOK – to tuck home his first Rangers goal from the edge of the six yard box.

We were well on top for the rest of the half but just couldn’t find the equaliser. There was almost an instant reply as we broke away with a three against one, Heung-Min Son finding Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg but he slid his shot the wrong side of the upright. Then on 28 minutes, McGregor tipped Kulusevski’s left-foot curler over the bar and from the corner, Eric Dier flicked on Son’s cross but Cristian Romero headed over from close range. Shortly after, Dier hit a fierce swerving drive that McGregor was able to get his body behind to keep the ball out, while the Rangers keeper then denied Kane when through on goal as we went in behind at the interval.

Just five minutes into the second half though, Kane made his mark. Kulusevski broke up a Rangers attack just outside our area and we countered quickly, Son finding Kane who moved into the left channel of the box and, despite being confronted by Connor Goldson, worked half a yard of space to allow himself to curl a right-footed shot which flew past McGregor and in off the far post. And the striker fired us ahead on 56 minutes, Hojbjerg and Son combining to fashion the chance which Kane snapped up, drilling low from 15 yards out.

A raft of substitutions disrupted the flow for much of the rest of the game but it was the hosts with two late chances, Scott Wright’s drive flicking off Lenglet and just zipping past the post into the side-netting on 74 minutes while James Sands headed straight at Forster from just a few yards out.

Match data

Goals: Rangers – Colak 24; Spurs – Kane 50, 56.

Yellow card: Spurs – Kulusevski.

Referee: John Beaton.

Venue: Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow.

Weather: Light cloud, light rain, moderate breeze, 17 degrees.

Attendance: 43,036.