Late goals see Spurs Ladies slump to Cup defeat against Brighton
Tottenham Ladies suffered disappointment in their latest WSL Continental Tyres Cup Group Two game as they lost 4-1 at home to League Two rivals Brighton.
In an exciting game at Cheshunt FC, the hosts started brightly, and took a deserved lead on 20 minutes when Bianca Baptiste was one on one with Brighton keeper Lucy Gillett and put the ball into the bottom left corner.
But rather than giving Spurs confidence, being in front seemed to confuse them, and Brighton soon equalised through Lucy Somes, after Spurs keeper Toni-Anne Wayne failed to hold onto a Sophie Perry free kick.
Only a few minutes after the goal, there was an almost the same situation and opportunity for Brighton, but this time Renee Hector was the one to rescue the Spurs.
She stopped the ball on the line and was able to clear it into the opposition’s half where Baptiste quickly turned defence into attack and went close to making it 2-1.
Ten minutes before half-time, Tottenham found themselves behind after some disorganisation in their own box, with Seagulls No.11 Fliss Gibbons beating keeper Wayne with a nice header.
‘Individual errors’
The second half was evenly contested, with both sides having chances, until two goals in the final six minutes of the match sealed Brighton’s win.
Brighton had clearly done plenty of work on their free kicks in training, and substitute Ini Utong, who had only been on the pitch for 10 minutes, was able to slide the ball in to make it 3-1.
In the last minute of the game, Utong struck a beautiful volley to notch her second goal, giving Wayne absolutely no chance.
Spurs manager Karen Hills was left to lament ”individual errors”. She said: “That was our problem in this match.”
She singled out her goalkeeper, adding: “It wasn’t Tori-Anne Wayne’s best match. But at the end of the day she has been one of best players for the last two seasons. Everybody can have a bad day sometimes.
‘Tough games’
‘We weren’t completely out of the race, we started well and made the opening goal, but we were just not able to pursue this.
“One of the reasons for that is we had two tough games this week, in the league against Watford Ladies where we drew 1-1, and in the Cup game where we beat Yeovil 2-1.
‘We were unfortunate today, but this outcome does not reflect how we played and who we are.
“I think we did dominate in certain areas of the pitch. And obviously going 1-0 up you would bet us to do okay considering how we played Yeovil this week.
“We are disappointed but that is football.”
Spurs’ next opponent in the Continental Cup is Chelsea away on December 6th, but for Hill and her team the focus is now on next week’s League 2 game against Doncaster. Spurs are currently fifth in the table, with the Belles in second place.