30 for Harry Kane as Magpies flop again

Newcastle United 1 Tottenham Hotspur 3: Newcastle United supporters who refused to join a boycott of the game only witnessed further evidence of the decline of a team head coach John Carver accepts is now involved in a fight against relegation.

They did score a rare goal through Jack Colback, but Tottenham eased a deserved win with strikes from Nacer Chadli, Christian Eriksen and - inevitably - Harry Kane, the type of homegrown player Newcastle seem unable to produce.

It was a special day for Kane, who scored his 30th goal of the season, beating Jurgen Klinsmann’s best-ever haul for Spurs and edging him closer to Gary Lineker, who scored 35 goals 23 years ago.

The forward said: ”I’m very proud to reach 30, but there are five games left and, hopefully, I’ll get a few more goals. I had a couple of chances and the keeper made some good saves but I’m delighted to get back on the scoresheet.”

Kane’s stoppage time goal rounded off an excellent day for Tottenham, who moved above Southampton and level on points with Liverpool. The mood of manager Mauricio Pochettino was in stark contrast to that of his Newcastle counterpart John Carver.

While the official attendance of 47,427 suggested a lukewarm response to boycott calls over the way Mike Ashley is running the club, the figure may have included season ticket holders who stayed away. Whatever the attendance, the atmosphere was subdued.

Carver said:”It was possibly not helpful, but they are entitled to do what they want. I don’t think that has affected what has gone on on the pitch. The players are all professional and once they cross the white line it shouldn’t affect them. There are no excuses. We lost because we weren’t good enough.

“You could see the nerves and tension on the pitch and it showed in the first-half performance when there was a lot of huff and puff, but that’s about all. We conceded a poor goal and faced an uphill battle.

”It’s not getting any easier but this job is never easy I’m disappointed and angry and have lots of different emotions going through my head. The bottom line is it’s another defeat and not good enough. We are in amongst it. We have sides like Leicester who are winning games and we aren’t winning. We have to find a way to find some points. This is the most difficult situation I’ve ever been in, but I’m a fighter and I’m not going to shirk anything. We will take the stick and the responsibility because that’s the type of person I am. I’m not going to give up on it and I have enough experience to deal with the situation.”

Newcastle have now lost six games in a row, equalling their worst ever run in the Premier League and were on the way to their latest setback when Chadli beat Tim Krul from 25 yards in the 30th min.

Colback hit back only 20 seconds after the interval, but Eriksen’s free-kick drifted in at the far post seven minutes later and Kane finished off a breakaway to put the game beyond Newcastle in stoppage time.

Mauricio Pochettino, the Spurs manager, said: ”Our performance was nice - better than Newcastle’s. I’m pleased for my players and happy to record this win after the last two games, which weren’t good.”

NEWCASTLE 4-1-4-1: Krul 7, Janmaat 5, Williamson 6, Coloccini 5 Anita 5 (Armstrong 75,5); Taylor 5; Gouffran 4 (Ameobi 46,5), Abeid 6 (Obertan 46,5), Colback 5, Cabella 5; Perez 7.

TOTTENHAM 4-5-1: Vorm 6; Dier 6, Fazio 7, Vertonghen 6, Rose 5 (Davies 82,5) Bentaleb 7, Paulinho 6 (Mason 88,5), Chadli 8, Eriksen 7, Lamela 6; Kane 7.

Referee: Kevin Friend (Leicester) 6.