Reading women vs Tottenham women 15/12/19 at Adams Park.
Tottenham women traveled away to reading for the final game of the year before the Christmas break and looking to end the year on a high after back to back wins with a 1-0 win against Brighton in the WSL and then thumping Lewes in the Continental cup 6-0.
Unfortunately it wasn’t to be for Tottenham who were outplayed by Reading from the start.
On loan midfielder Rachel Furness was missing for Tottenham due to taking on her parent club and her scrappy never give up attitude was hugely missed in the Tottenham midfield as Readings four consisting of Angharad James, Remi Allen, Jade Moore and Amalie Eikeland proved to much for Tottenham’s three woman midfield of Josie Green, Chloe Peplow and defender Ria Percival.
It wasn’t all Reading domination, Tottenham did create chances with Kit Gramham coming close with a left footed shot on 8 minutes before Reading countered and came close with a Farrah William resulting I’m Tottenham’s Becky spencer making two saves in a row to keep Tottenham at 0-0.
Tottenham’s three midfielders were being overpowered by Readings four resulting in very few runs down the wing. In the 14th minute Rianna Dean win a corner which unfortunately was wasted.
Tottenham escaped when a penalty shout for Reading in the 22nd minute was turned down by the officials, replays show that Hannah Godfrey may have has a hold of Remi Allen and pulled her down but referee Stacy Pearson was not interested and let play continue which lead to Rianna Dean coming close for Tottenham from a Corner in the 25th which was cleared off the line by Mayumi Pacheco. The rest of the half was pretty even with both teams creating half chances but neither team able to break the deadlock.
The 2nd half saw a lively for Tottenham taking just 6 minute to finally break the deadlock on the 51st minute with Kit Graham taking the corner finding Siri Worm outside the box and the Dutch international letting a thunderous shot fly from outside the box into the top left hand corner to give to Tottenham the lead.
The Tottenham goal definitely sparked Reading into action as they began to pile on the pressure and came close on the 64th minute when Becky Spencer was forced to make a point blank save from Eikeland after being squared up by Fara Williams and the consistent pressure finally paid if for Reading in the 77th minute when a Fara Williams corner slips through Becky Spencer’s hands in a congested penalty box and is tapped in at the far post by Jo Potter to put Reading level.
Reading should have been 2 up a minute later when Remi Allen’s thunderous header was saved incredibly from point blank range by Becky Spencer but unfortunately landing awkwardly on her left hip forcing Tottenham to have to make the change but what a way to leave the field with a world class save by Becky Spencer.
It was the 88th minute when Tottenham hearts were broken as Remi Allen latched into Angharad James headed flick on and tapped in fom point blank range to give Reading a deserving 2-1 lead.
The officials indicated a minimum of 10 minutes injury time will be played and the 92nd minute finally saw Tottenham make a much needed double substitute bringing on goal machines Lucy Quinn and Angela Addison for Siri Worm and Chloe Peplow but with 8 minutes left and needing 2 goals for the win these subs were a little too late and after pushing everyone forward looking for the equaliser Tottenham were punished late on in the 98th minute when a Gemma Davidson’s free kick was Intercepted by Reading and lead to a counter attack leaving Amalie Eikeland to run freely from the half way line with no one but Lucy Quinn chasing her back and scoring from just outside the 6 yard box to give Reading their 3rd of the night. After 100 minutes of football Tottenham end 2019 with a defeat and leave them sitting 7th in the Super League while Reading sit in 6th.
Post match analysis: Karen Hills
Woman of the match:
Ashleigh Neville
Reaction:
You have to feel for Tottenham, no one can fault their heart but Reading were just to strong on the day. Personally I believed Tottenham would take all 3 points and would end 2019 with a win but it just wasn’t meant to be…. Again. I feel there have been many games this season in which Tottenham should have taken more points from such as the home game against Manchester United, Arsenal as well as away games to chelsea and Birmingham but luck just hasn’t been on their side.
Overall I think us Tottenham fans can be happy and VERY proud of theses inspirational women as people need to remember that many of the Tottenham players have only been professional for less than 6 months while 10 other teams have been professional for longer.
Next up for Tottenham are the 2016 champions Manchester City at the Hive London on Sunday 5th January 2020.
Prediction:
I would love to see Tottenham take all 3 points against such a strong team but being realistic I think no one expects to our women to get much from this game but this is football and anything is possible.
Tottenham may be the underdogs for this game but the Tottenham women have certainly held their own so far and have shown the rest of the Women’s Super League that they are not here to make up the number and that they are here to stay, I wish the ladies best of luck and hope for a big turn out at the Hive to support out ladies COYSW.
Women's Soccer Fans 