Tottenham boss Antonio Conte is pleased Harry Kane’s commitment is starting to be rewarded with goals after the striker fired his side into the FA Cup fifth round.
The England captain scored twice as Spurs beat Brighton 3-1 in north London, with Solly March also netting a first-half own goal.
Kane looks to be getting back to his best after a first half of the season where he looked a shadow of his usual self and has scored seven goals in his last 11 games.
That will be good news for Spurs as they try to end their 13-year trophy drought by going all the way in the FA Cup, while also pushing for a top-four finish in the Premier League.
Conte said Kane, who wanted to leave Spurs last summer, deserves the goals because of his team ethic.
“Harry, in the past, in the games that he didn’t score, I liked his performance,” he said. “Harry is a player who’s scored a lot in the past as a number nine.
“But what we can appreciate – me and the whole team – is his attitude and commitment for the whole team. I think this is the most important thing for us.
“Then, for sure, to score two goals is important because he’s number nine, he’s used to scoring goals.
“We are working on the physical condition with the team. We’re trying to improve the intensity, also during the training sessions. I think all these situations can improve the performance with all the players.”
Kane opened the scoring in fine style by curling into the top corner before March deflected Emerson Royal’s cross into his own net.
Yves Bissouma brought Brighton back into it, but Kane’s second, scrambling home after great work from Son Heung-min, put the game to bed.
Conte said: “I think we have to be pleased to continue in this way. We know very well that this trophy is important. It’s a great competition, a great trophy, a historical trophy in England. Now we have to move on and start to think about Wednesday.
“We have another important game against Southampton. We have to prepare very well, because the league is very tough and we want to stay close for important positions.”
Brighton briefly threatened a comeback, but boss Graham Potter accepted his side did not deserve to progress.
“I don’t think we were at our best tonight, that wasn’t from a lack of effort. Credit to the opposition, Tottenham played well and were aggressive,” he said.
“We also contributed ourselves, this can happen. Our attitude was great, but, if we were honest, we weren’t good enough to win. We need to be at our maximum to win here and we weren’t. Tottenham deserved to win.
“Sometimes it’s not your night, you don’t hit the levels you need to. Tottenham deserved to win and go through, we accept that. We wanted to go through, but it wasn’t to be.”
