Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Ramadan 17, 1445 H
broken clouds
weather
OMAN
23°C / 23°C
EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Son brace sees Spurs through in FA Cup

No Image
minus
plus

Preston: With a marvellous double strike, Son Heung-Min led Tottenham Hotspur into the fifth round of the FA Cup after a 3-0 win against Championship side Preston.


Prolific goal scorer Son, who won the Premier League’s Golden Boot last season, has been a little out of form by his own standards, although hitting 8 goals so far this season in all competitions. His goals were his first in the cup since February 2020.


He said: “I needed these goals for my confidence. It was really important. It was the kind of position I like to shoot. In the first half I had a couple of chances to shoot but the keeper made good saves.”


He added: “As a striker the important thing is that you get that goal. It is important that I could help the team go to the next round. I’m very, very happy. When you look at the scoresheet it looks like a comfortable win but the FA Cup has never been comfortable. We suffered a lot away from home. The lads did an amazing job.”


Although continuing to enjoy most of the possession, Spurs struggled to break their opponents down. Their crosses were poor and they lacked cohesion. Preston proved strong enough to survive the early pressure and grew into the match, making occasional forays out of their own half and offering some threat from set-pieces.


Tottenham were unable to beat the defence throughout the first half although Son forced a save from Freddie Woodman from just outside the box and Dejan Kulusevski was off target from similar range and had another effort blocked by Liam Lindsay.


It wasn’t until five minutes after the break that Tottenham were able to break the deadlock. Son collected a pass from Japhet Tanganga and unleashed a lovely left-footed curling shot from 30 yards into the corner of the net, giving no chance to the diving Woodman.


Twenty minutes later Son doubled the lead. He received a neat flicked pass from Ivan Perisic and spun passed Jordan Storey to superbly drive in his shot. Spurs coach: Christian Stellini said: “You could feel this from Sonny. Without Harry he was the most important striker for us. He’s a top player. He just has to wait for the right moment.”


With twenty minutes of play left, Tottenham were well in control. Their manager, Antonio Conte made three changes but left their main striker Harry Kane on the bench still resting after having had fever last week.


One of the substitutes to come on was Arnaut Danjuma, a loan signing from Villarreal this week. He marked his debut with an 87th minute goal, firing in a shot from a low cross by Kulusevski.


Preston manager, Ryan Lowe said: “I’m immensely proud to have kept a team of the like of Tottenham at bay for as long as we did. Then a world-class player provides a world-class finish. It was a moment of brilliance from Son. It was a perfect first-half performance. We gave a good account of ourselves.”


SHARE ARTICLE
arrow up
home icon