What a week it’s been for Tottenham women. Monday night saw our Lilywhites travel to the Midlands to take on non league Coventry United in the FA cup 5th round. Tottenham were favourites going into the game but as we as fans should always know to expect the unexpected in this beautiful game but thankfully for us Tottenham fans there were no shocks on Monday. Tottenham ran out 5-0 winners with goals from Siri Worm, Lucia Leon and a hat-trick by Rianna Dean the goal machine. Unfortunately for fans this game was not shown on the FA player nor was it on the radio so unless fans were at Butts Park Arena the only way to follow the game was through the club’s Twitter page but highlights of our Spurs women’s FA Cup victory can be seen below.
The FA Cup quarter finals draw took place during the match and the draw saw our Spurs women drawn away to Lewes or Arsenal in the quarter finals on the weekend of the 15th March 2020.
As much as we would like to win a quarter final against Arsenal to make the semi finals we need to play it safe. I for one will be cheering for Lewes because no disrespect to Lewes I feel it would be an easier tie than against the current Super League champions. That being said it doesn’t mean I don’t have faith in our Lilywhites ability to overcome Arsenal at Meadow Park as we already showed at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium that we can match the leagues best teams. Lets not forget that we still have a job to do which is surviving our debut season in the Super League and if given the option I wouldn’t want to push our players too hard as there is still a lot of league left but if the prospect of facing Arsenal in the FA Cup arose I know our Lilywhites will rise to the occasion and give 110% in a FA Cup North London Derby. *NOTE* At the time of writing this Arsenal’s game against Lewes has just finished and Arsenal win 2-0 with goals from Caitlin Foord and Danielle Van De Donk setting up a North London Derby FA Cup quarter final on Sunday 15th March.
Back to WSL business.
Before that FA Cup quarter final there was a WSL away match to Brighton to deal with first. Match-day 17 saw our 7th place Tottenham women on 17 points take on 9th place Brighton & Hove Albion on 13 points. Tottenham came into the game on the back of a powerful, inspirational comeback against Everton in the WSL and a 5-0 FA Cup triumph. Brighton come into the game after a 1-1 at home to Manchester United and have been off for over a week as their FA Cup tie away to Crystal Palace was called off due to storm Dennis and will take place this coming Tuesday 25th February.
Line ups.
Tottenham lined up 4-2-3-1 with Becky Spencer in goal, Ashleigh Neville at right back, Hannah Godfrey and Anna Filby in the centre of defence with Lucia Leon at left back. In front of the defence saw Ria Percival and Captain Josie Green, the attacking midfield saw Siri Worm down the left Gemma Davidson in the centre with Angela Addison down the right and Rianna Dean the goal machine in the number 9 position. Brighton lined up a 4-4-2 with Megan Walsh in goal, Kirsty Barton on at right back, Danique Kerkdijk and Victoria Williams in the centre of defence and Maya Le Tissier at left back. The Brighton midfield consisted of Emily Simpkins down the right, Léa Le Garrec and Danielle Buet in the centre with Amanda Nilden down the left. Up front Brighton went with Kayleigh Green and Aileen Whelan.
Both teams came into this game evenly matched and their positions in the table meant nothing as both teams have had games cancelled therefore the table could be much different. The last time these two met Tottenham came out winners 1-0 after a Victoria Wiliam own goal. Totteham were the better team that day but they had to fight for the 3 points. The game at the People’s Pension Stadium saw an attendance of 965, the game started pretty evenly with both teams fighting to gain control of the midfeld. The first opportunity fell to Léa Le Garrec when she ran through the middle in what looked like a one on one position but Siri Worm got back and made a last second tackle to prevent Le Garrec getting a shot away. In the 13th minute Tottenham had a penalty appeal rejected by referee Louise Saunders when Ashleigh Neville centred a cross and Rianna Dean seemed to be pulled down as she went up for the header. Play continuted and Brighton tried to get the ball out but it fell to Lucia Leon on the edge of the box who’s effort went high and wide not causing Megan Walsh any problems. The match was pretty evenly matched but in the 29th minute Aileen Whelan took a left footed shot which went wide past Becky Spencer’s right post. A minute later saw Brighton go down to 10 women when Léa Le Garrec was sent off with a second yellow card after a heavy challenge on captain Josie Green. Tottenham began to grow a little more in confidence and in the 33rd minute Siri Worm had an opportunity, we all know how well she can hit them from distance by her shot from outside the box went straight into Megan Walsh’s hands making it a comfortable save for the Brighton keeper. Deep in injury time in the 47th minute Tottenham could have taken the lead when Neville’s cross was spilled by Walsh but unfortunately there was no Spurs player around to pick up any loose balls and both teams went intp the break even.
Who will break the deadlock.
Tottenham started the 2nd half as they ended the first by gaining control of the midfield and passing the ball around trying to find the right opportunity to cut Brighton open but a lot of respect has to be given to the home side because they did not sit back and defend the whole game the actually tried to attack Tottenham and took advantage on a couple of occasions of Tottenham’s enthusiastic attacking stragety and caught Tottenham on the counter attack. The 66th minute finally saw twinkle toes Angela Addison work her magic twsting and turning and drawing a foul by Kirsty Barton to give Tottenham a well worked penalty. Rianna Dean the goal machine stepped up to take the penalty and slotted the ball past Walsh (penalty below).
The 68th minute saw Tottenham’s first change of the game with Lucy Quinn coming on for Lucia Leon. Brighton could have been level in the 72rd minute when Keyleigh Green couldn’t turn in Victoria William’s cross in what should have been the equaliser for Brighton. The 76th minute saw the return of Angela Addison come off for Kit Graham who returned after missing the Everton game through illness and within 1 minute of making her return she came close to putting Tottenham 2 up when a miss-kick by Megan Walsh fell to Kit Graham but her shot went straight to Walsh who saved with her legs. Tottenham’s final change came in the 86th minute when Chloe Peplow replaced Gemma Davidson. The game finished quite even, Brighton pushed forward looking for a equaliser on the counter as Tottenham remained in control of the midfield and after 4 minutes of added time the game ended with a victory for Tottenham who complete the double over Brighton in their debut season in the WSL.
Woman Of The Match.
Tottenham didn’t have their best game but one player that really gave their all again was our captain. She was everywhere and took a few knocks throughout the game, she bosses the midfield and was constantly assisting the defences and the attack therefore our Woman Of The Match goes to Josie Green.
Conclusion.
It was always obvious that it was going to be a tough game against Brighton away from home. The Seagulls really pushed our Lilywhites back in December at the Hive making it one of the hardest fought victories for our Spurs women’s team this season. A lot of credit and respect has to go to Brighton because they played over an hour with 10 players and rather than folding and sitting back like I expected, Hope Powell’s team kept playing with the same intensity and at times put the Tottenham Midfield and defence under pressure and maybe should have had an equaliser in the 72nd minute. To be fair Tottenham didn’t play their best game, but why? I feel the pitch had something to do with it, it was very bobbly making it difficult for Tottenham to execute their game plan, another reason could be that Brighton are just not a bad side. Whatever the reason Tottenham has to fight until the end against a 10 woman Brighton and one has to think what may have been had Brighton not been down to 10. The most important thing is that our Lilywhites have taken all 3 points which moves Tottenham into 6th one point ahead of Everton in 7th.
Next Home Match.
Our next home match is away now with no game at the Hive until Mother Day Sunday 22nd March 2020 where our Lilywhites will take on Lucy Quinn’s former club 11th placed Birmingham City at 2pm.
Tickets for this game are priced at £6.50 for adults and £3.50 for concession in advanced and they can be purchased at tottenhamhotspur.com/wsl as it will be more on the day. Before we welcome our Spurs Women back to the Hive they will be away at Meadow Park on Sunday 15th March in the FA Cup quater finals, hopefully we will be welcoming these inspirational women back to the Hive as semi finalists COYS.
Women's Soccer Fans 