Tottenham 1 Aston Villa 2: Spurs’ European hopes suffer huge blow after comical Reguilon own goal and Watkins’ strike

HARRY KANE’S intended farewell party was ruined by a striker who knows all about snubbing Spurs.

Ollie Watkins grabbed the winner to complete Villa’s fine first-half comeback.

The frontman turned down Tottenham when he joined Villa from Brentford in a £33million switch last summer because he did not want to play second fiddle to Kane.

But after seeing Watkins net his 16th goal of the season Spurs should seriously consider going back in for him again if Kane does end up getting his wish and leaving this summer.

Oh and while they are up there the North Londoners should try to sign Jack Grealish as well because he was excellent as he lasted 73 minutes on his first start since getting injured in February.

It ensured what Kane hopes will be his last home game in a Spurs shirt was nothing short of disastrous.

This defeat leaves Tottenham’s Europa League hopes hanging in the balance as they face a tough trip to top-four chasing FA Cup winners Leicester on Sunday.

Where Kane goes after that remains to be seen – after he told Spurs he wants to leave to boost his quest for trophies.

Despite this, there was still a lot of love in the air for him from the 10,000 fans allowed back inside the stadium for their final home game of the campaign.

Kane, as usual, followed his club captain Hugo Lloris out of the tunnel and onto the pitch.

The reception from the 10,000 fans spread out inside the stadium was noisy and rapturous.

As the players lined up for the handshake, the first chant of “Come on you Spurs” bellowed around this vast bowl as at the same time the TV cameras focused on Kane caught him looking poignantly up into the stands.

They say a picture paints a thousand words, and while it is impossible to know what was going through his mind, he was clearly trying to savour every second.

Kane’s name was then greeted with the loudest roar when the line-ups were announced for the final time.

The cheers turned to jeers and the taking of the knee was greeted by boos from some fans – which was predicted in some circles given the club’s strong Jewish links and recent events in the Middle East and at home.

But as soon as the players were standing again, it was business as usual with the stadium loudly continuing to hail Kane as “one of their own” and cheering every early touch.

It started comfortably for hosts as they took an eighth minute lead when Steven Bergwijn robbed the not so Marvelous Nakamba and shrugged off John McGinn before rocketing a shot into the top corner.

Then like so many previous promising Spurs displays this one just stalled.

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Villa were unfortunate not to be awarded a penalty when Watkins was needlessly bundled over in the box by Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris four minutes later.

But the visitors’ luck turned when Nakamba’s cross was shanked into his own net by Tottenham defender Reguilon to make it 1-1 in the 20th minute.

Jack Grealish and McGinn both went close for Villa, before Watkins put them ahead six minutes before the break.

Again it was an error by Reguilon as his attempted clearance in the corner hit Bertrand Traore and fell to Watkins and easily fended off Eric Dier before slotting past Lloris.

The returning fans were not happy with half time approaching they launched into their first unified chant of the night against chairman and Daniel Levy by giving us a burst of: “We want Levy out.”

Before then there had been only isolated calls for him to quit which proves football fans everywhere rarely sting when they are winning.

The half-time whistle was greeted by a crescendo of boos – which must have been music to the ears of Dean Smith and his players.

It certainly had the desired effect as Spurs came out strongly at the start of the second half with Bergwijn having a shot saved by Emiliano Martinez and Kane sending a far post volley over the bar from Reguilon’s cross.

Villa, though, rolled with the punches and Traore went close to extending their lead with a deft curling shot just wide of the target.

The more the hosts began to fade the louder the frustration and the calls for Gareth Bale to be sent on grew.

The Wales superstar, dropped to the bench after knocking his pipe out in the win over Wolves on Sunday, eventually replaced Bergwijn in the 71st minute with Tanguy Ndombele following on for Harry Winks moments later.

And, despite Kane having a shot saved by Martinez, Villa almost added a third at the death as Carney Chukwuemeka’s 20-yard rattled a post.

As for Kane, he looked like a man saying his final goodbyes as walked around the pitch after the final whistle applauding those fans who had stayed behind after this loss.

One of their own was on his own after a typically Spursy farewell.

He deserved and deserves better.

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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk