Mauricio Pochettino said striker Harry Kane had a 'big impact' in Spurs' win at Aston Villa

Published: November 3, 2014 
by STEVE BARNETT

SPURS boss Mauricio Pochettino looks set to finally give the fans what they want by finding a regular starting place for hotshot striker Harry Kane. 

Kane came off the bench to score the winner in his side's 2-1 victory at Aston Villa on Sunday, netting his seventh goal in seven games for Tottenham. Afterwards Pochettino admitted that he could no longer ignore the England Under-21s international. 

"He had the possibility to score and he scored," the Spurs manager said. "He had a big impact. We’re very happy with him because in every competition he has played in he has scored.

"We have a lot of good players in that position but I’m happy with his performance and maybe in the future he has more to play. I’m also happy for him that he scored the winner against Villa as I think the three points is very important for us." 

Andreas Weimann gave goal-shy Villa a half-time lead, the Midlands faithful having something to celebrate for the first time since September 13. But after Villa's Christian Benteke was sent off for pushing Ryan Mason in the face, Spurs were handed a golden opportunity to turn the game around. In a frantic final six minutes, Nacer Chadli swept in Erik Lamela's corner to equalise, before the prolific Kane scored a last-minute winner courtesy of a deflected free-kick. 

“I’m very happy because in the second half we showed our character,” added Pochettino. “It was difficult at the beginning. We played better than Aston Villa in the first half, but found ourselves 1-0 down. We didn’t deserve that, but that’s football. 

“Sometimes football isn’t fair because you try to play, you play better, you have chances – but in the end, Villa scored with their only shot on target. It was a difficult moment, we needed to be strong in our mentality and we showed that. 

“It wasn’t an easy game and we’re all happy because the win is very important.”