Jan Vertonghen Admits He's a Goal Line Technology Convert After Scoring in Tottenham Victory

Tottenham defender Jan Vertonghen joked that he is now a fan of goal-line technology after his header was ruled to have crossed the line in Spurs' weekend win

Tottenham defender Jan Vertonghen joked that he is now a fan of goal-line technology after his header was ruled to have crossed the line in Spurs' weekend win over Newcastle.

Within eight minutes of the new season, Vertonghen scored his first Premier League goal since 2013, latching onto a flick from fellow centre back Davinson Sanchez before heading the ball onto the crossbar and over the line, despite the best efforts of Martin Dubravka in the Newcastle goal.

In real-time it was not immediately apparent that the ball had gone in and Martin Atkinson needed the Goal Decision System to tell him that it was just 9mm over the line.

The Goal Decision System shows Vertonghen's header crossed the line by a mere 9mm #NEWTOT pic.twitter.com/Quwyrh10fm

— Premier League (@premierleague) August 11, 2018

Vertonghen was thrilled to register his first goal since January and was thankful that the technology helped Spurs out.

"I haven't scored in the Premier League for a while, so I was happy to score," the Belgian said, as quoted by the Daily Mail.

"Davinson had a great touch with the first header - and there could have been another one later because from the other side, he had a first touch again, but I didn't make that run again.

"I didn't expect it to be in at first. The goalkeeper made a great save and I was happy with the technology. I wasn't a big fan of technology in football, but now I am!"

None of Spurs 113 goals across all competitions last season were scored and assisted by their centre-backs.

🅰️ Davinson Sánchez
⚽️ Jan Vertonghen

Their first of 2018/19 is exactly that. pic.twitter.com/8qHQCfxz7H

— Squawka (@Squawka) August 11, 2018

Joselu equalised within a matter of minutes but Dele Alli's 18th minute strike proved decisive as Tottenham put a troubled summer behind them by getting their first three points on the board.

Mauricio Pochettino would have been particularly pleased by the two goalscorers, as both returned late to pre-season training after reaching the World Cup semi-finals.

Harry Kane and Hugo Lloris also started on Saturday after their summer exploits.