Steven Bergwijn hosts The Late, Late Show at Leicester as Tottenham Hotspur clinch a dramatic victory

Picture the scene. Your side has just gone 2-1 down with 15 minutes to go and you look to your bench for someone to make an impact.

There is no Heung-Min Son as he’s injured. There is Dele Alli but he has been unreliable. Bryan Gil is young and still finding his feet in England. It is going to have to be Steven Bergwijn, someone whose only goal this season was in the Carabao Cup against West Ham.

This is the predicament Tottenham manager Antonio Conte found himself in during the latter stages of Tottenham Hotspur’s match against Leicester City on Wednesday evening.

The North London outfit had dominated the first half, rueing missed chances.

Jamie Vardy’s understudy Patson Daka put the Foxes ahead against the run of play but Harry Kane managed to provide an equaliser before the interval, the striker’s 250th club goal.

Conte’s side did not create quite as many chances in the second half but still would have felt as though they should have had the lead.

Fast forward to the 76th minute when substitute Harvey Barnes and James Maddison linked up smoothly for the latter to see a deflected strike beat Hugo Lloris and give the hosts their second lead of the evening.

Tottenham were dumbfounded. How were they losing this game?

The Italian manager had to make a decision and quickly. He had one final card to play and he chose Bergwijn to take up this tough task.

Spurs reportedly rejected a £15 million bid from Dutch giants Ajax for the Netherlands international last week and the 24-year-old may still return to his homeland this month.

His move from PSV Eindhoven two years ago has not exactly gone to plan, scoring five goals for Tottenham going into Wednesday evening’s contest.

A goal on debut against Manchester City gave the Spurs faithful misguided optimism that they could have a gem on their hands.

Having played under three managers in the two years in North London, Bergwijn has never managed to justify a regular starting place for the Lilywhites, often being introduced from the bench.

Wednesday night was no different, or at least that is how it appeared. Losing a game with limited time to go and their star winger out, Bergwijn was the next best available option. He has not done much this season and therefore it looked like it would be the same again this time.

It certainly looked as though the 24-year-old would offer little when he was booked for simulation in desperation of seeing a penalty awarded.

However, no one in the King Power Stadium could foresee what was about to happen as the fourth official indicated a minimum of five minutes of additional time.

A long ball fizzed with desperate hope from midfielder Pierre-Emile Højbjerg found its way to right wing-back Matt Doherty, who had replaced Emerson Royal at half-time.

The Irishman provided a deft touch but clattered into Leicester defender Caglar Soyuncu. Luckily for Bergwijn, the ball fell right to his feet and was in the back of the net before goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel could even react.

With seemingly seconds to spare, the visitors had clinched a point. Well, that is how it appeared.

Spurs almost instantly won the ball back from kick-off and another hopeful ball forwards, this time from Kane, was latched onto by Bergwijn, who outpaced Soyuncu and rounded Schmeichel to finish superbly.

Having been 2-1 down in the 95th minute, Tottenham had won the match 3-2 via a player who tripled his goal tally for the season on the night.

In hindsight, had the 24-year-old opted to celebrate his equaliser with the away fans instead of deciding to gather the ball with the thought that there may be one last chance, there may not have been enough time for a final attack to materialise.

On the victory, Bergwijn was delighted to help the team with an important two goals:

“We had a lot of chances and then they scored, but we believed and we showed we are a team.

“It is fantastic, it was a fantastic game, I scored two goals so I am happy.”

The Dutchman also revealed what his manager said to him as he prepared to enter the fold.

“He said ‘score and create some difficult moments for the defenders and stay close to Harry [Kane]’ and I did it.

“It is good [with Antonio Conte], we know he is a fantastic manager, he showed this in every club. We are working hard in training, physically. We work hard every day and then you see what happens.”

The winger also opened up on what has been a tricky season so far.

“It has been a difficult season with injuries, we have Harry [Kane], Sonny [Heung-Min Son] and Lucas [Moura] as well. I need to work and when I come on I need to show myself and the manager.”