Tottenham striker Harry Kane feared he was going to be denied a hat-trick by being substituted in the 3-0 FA Cup fifth-round victory at Fulham.
The England international had given Spurs a 2-0 lead with goals in the 17th and 52nd minutes, but thought his chance to complete the treble was up when he skied a shot after 70 minutes, with manager Mauricio Pochettino seemingly preparing to make a change in the dugout.
However, Kane remained on the pitch and wrapped up the scoring just three minutes later. He was then taken off moments later to rapturous applause from the travelling fans.
“I thought he (Pochettino) was going to take me off soon,” Kane told BBC One.
“When I put it over the bar I thought that was going to be the last chance I was going to have, but luckily I managed to sneak it (the hat-trick) in before I was taken off.”
Kane had few complaints about the team’s overall performance either, although he believes they had more goals in them.
However, the forward is more than happy to be in the draw for the sixth round, especially with the second leg of their Europa League last-32 tie against Gent to come on Thursday, in which Spurs will attempt to overturn a 1-0 deficit.
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“We’ve not had a few great results recently,” he said. “We wanted to come here today and get a win.
“We played very well, passed the ball. We probably should have had a few more goals but it was great game all round and we’re happy to be going home with the win.
“Winning games gives you confidence. We go into Thursday now coming off this result, we’ll be buzzing to go at Wembley, so we’re looking forward to it.
“It’s never easy in the FA Cup – we had to make sure we came here and did our job and we’ve done that.”
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