Matt Doherty backs Kane to heal penalty pain with goals

Republic of Ireland international Matt Doherty has backed Tottenham team-mate and close friend Harry Kane to get over his World Cup disappointment by scoring "a lot of goals" for his club during the second half of the season.

Kane was in attendance for Spurs' 1-1 friendly draw with Nice on Wednesday and surprised the players involved by entering the home dressing room at half-time.

The England forward was not expected to return to club duty until Friday after being given time off following the World Cup in Qatar, where his missed penalty late on in a 2-1 defeat by France in the quarter-finals saw the national team exit the tournament.

"Harry is absolutely fine. We all know his character, he's one of the strongest characters we know, so he'll be absolutely fine," Doherty insisted.

"Yeah, he came in at half-time [against Nice]. It was unexpected. We didn't know. We're obviously close friends, so it was good to have him back.

"I think all players use the negative times as a learning curve as a way to motivate them to be better. I don't think it will be just for his case, I think a lot of people will be that way.

"For us, we want him to come back and be the best version of himself which he has been for most of the season so far.

"I don't think we've got any questions about how he's going to return. I think he's going to come back pretty good and I think he's going to score a lot of goals for us and win us a lot of games."

While Kane's focus during the last month has been on international duty, the likes of Doherty and Dejan Kulusevski have been put through double sessions by Spurs boss Antonio Conte.

Swedish attacker Kulusevski is excited for their Premier League campaign to resume at Brentford on Boxing Day and believes the