Sunday 7 January 2018 18:43, UK
Harry Kane scored his first two goals of 2018 as Tottenham advanced to the FA Cup fourth round with a 3-0 win over AFC Wimbledon.
The League One side frustrated the hosts for over an hour at Wembley, but their resistance was broken when Kane, surprisingly picked from the start by Mauricio Pochettino, struck twice from close-range in the space of two minutes.
Jan Vertonghen then wrapped up the scoring with a powerful long-range effort which took a slight deflection as it flew past AFC Wimbledon goalkeeper George Long.
Tottenham now take their place in the draw for the next round, but for a long time it seemed they might be taken to replay by the side 58 league places below them.
In fact, the visitors were only inches away from taking a shock lead when Jimmy Abdou's shot was tipped onto the bar by Michel Vorm in the first half.
Before that, the pattern of the game had quickly been set, with Spurs camped in Wimbledon's half as they attempted to break the visitors down.
Their first real opportunity fell to Erik Lamela, whose powerful volley from the edge of the box was parried by Long in the 18th minute, and soon after that Kane fired wastefully over from a Fernando Llorente knockdown.
Wimbledon defended stubbornly and came close to scoring in the 29th minute, when Abdou's curling effort - their first shot of the afternoon - was pushed onto the woodwork by Vorm, who recovered quickly to hold onto the follow-up effort.
The chance boosted Wimbledon and the buoyant travelling fans packed into one corner of Wembley, and they continued to frustrate the hosts up until the break, with Long making fine saves from Kane and Lamela.
Wimbledon started the second half strongly, but the hosts were soon in the ascendency, with Mousa Dembele striking a low shot against the base of the post before they finally got the breakthrough in the 63rd minute.
Moussa Sissoko was the man who created it, breaking free on the right-hand side of the box and firing in a low cross which was bundled over the line by Kane.
The visitors were still reeling from the opener when, just 111 seconds later, a Kyle Walker-Peters pass found its way to the England striker, who capitalised on slack marking to score his 26th goal of the season.
Wimbledon tired after that, with Vertonghen adding the third goal from range after robbing Lyle Taylor deep in opposition territory as Spurs saw out the closing stages comfortably.
Kane was expected to be rested for the game but having been selected from the start by Pochettino, it was no great surprise that he was the man to make the difference. Fresh from his record-breaking calendar year in 2017, his goals get him off the mark for 2018. He has already netted 26 in all competitions this season.
Tottenham are back at Wembley when they return to Premier League action against Everton on Saturday, while AFC Wimbledon continue their League One campaign with an eagerly-anticipated grudge match against MK Dons on the same day.
