First defeat for Spurs Women in 24/25 WSL Season
Image source: Spurs Women Facebook
Ahoj from Slovakia! 👋🏽🇸🇰 It’s good to be back reporting on Spurs Women (despite the result at the weekend), whilst visiting the mother-in-law, working remotely and now having a couple of days off, I thought I’d also catch up on what I missed in Week 3 of the Barclays WSL.
The start of the week was positive for the Lilywhites as they beat Charlton 2–1 in the League Cup; Luana Bühler headed in early and Jess Naz’s thunderous effort from inside the box sealed the win in the 86th minute.
Fast forward to last Sunday (6th October), Spurs Manager Robert Vilahamn again opted for the same 4–2–3–1 formation and used the same line-up against Villa.
Opponents Liverpool started their WSL campaign with two draws (1–1 against Leicester City and 1–1 against West Ham United respectively) and lost to rivals Manchester United 2–0 in the League Cup.
It took The Reds only ten minutes to go ahead, Cornelia Kapocs lobbed Becca Spencer from 25 yards out, the Spurs keeper initially cleared the ball but sent it in the direction of the Swede who then audaciously struck from long distance. It was her first goal for the visitors, she joined Liverpool from Swedish side Linköping in the summer.
Spurs equalised in the 54th minute, thanks to an own goal from Liverpool midfielder Taylor Hinds. Jess Naz came in from the right hand-side and could see Maite Oroz run into the box, Naz crossed the ball in, however, Hinds put the ball into the back of her own net.
The away side were once again in front 21 minutes later when Austrian Marie Höbinger’s rocket of a freekick from just outside of the area, the former FC Zürich Frauen player’s effort sailed past Becca Spencer’s left-hand side.
One thing we’ve seen from Robert Vilahamn’s side so far this season is tenacity. Shortly after conceding, Spurs were on the attack, Ash Neville found Clare Hunt in the box, the Aussie International dummied past a Liverpool defender and fired in. Her shot was deflected off Gemma Bonner and went to the right of keeper Rachael Laws to make it 2–2.
Twelve minutes later Liverpool were awarded a penalty by referee Kirsty Dowie. Leanne Kiernan came in from the right and found team mate Sophie Román Haug in the box, the Norwegian went down after trying to leap up and head the ball, Ash Neville also went up to intentionally clear the ball to safety, however, the Liverpool player made a meal out of the aerial challenge. To the amazement of Molly Bartrip, the referee pointed to the spot. Höbinger stepped up and placed her shot to Spencer’s right to make 3–2 to the Anfield side.
This one was hard to take, especially the penalty decision, in the last post I mentioned that fans and myself still question Becca Spencer’s fitness and she still doesn’t look 100%, however, I would say there are some positives, we’ve scored 8 goals in 3 games, the team’s heads do not drop and they’ve shown their tenacious character so far, in addition, their ability to counter attack when winning back possession has also been a huge plus.
Let’s hope they apply these positives in the next game away to Manchester United on Sunday.
Up the Spurs!
Spurs: Spencer, Neville, Hunt, Bartrip, Nilden, Oroz, Summanen (England 55), Spence, Raso (Vinberg 90+2), Thomas, Naz. Substitutes (not used): Talbert, Grant, Buhler, Ahtinen, Csiki, Gunning-Williams, Dennis.
Liverpool: Laws, Parry, Bonner, Matthews (Clark 61), Hinds, Hobinger, Lundgaard (Evans 31), Nagano, Kapocs (Enderby 62), Smith (Kiernan 74), Haug. Substitutes (not used): Fahey, Daniels, Silcock.
Attendance: 2,206.
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