Tottenham 2-3 Liverpool: Reds register first win of the season after penalty controversy
Boos echoed around Brisbane Road following a tense clash between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool in which a controversial injury-time penalty gave the visitors their first win of the season.
Spurs’ Robert Vilahamn put out an unchanged eleven from the side that drew with Aston Villa last week, while Matt Beard gave Cornelia Kapocs her first start for the Reds in the WSL.
The Liverpool coach’s decision paid dividends early in the first half as Kapocs lofted a shot over keeper Becky Spencer to give the Reds the lead nine minutes in to the first half.
Liverpool’s aggressive pressing meant that Tottenham struggled to get back into the match, rarely managing to retain possession for long stretches as neither side built up much momentum.
The second half started much as the first ended, but a low driven cross from Jessica Naz was deflected into the Liverpool net by Reds’ defender Taylor Hinds for an own-goal after 52 minutes.
A challenge on Canadian star Olivia Smith forced Matt Beard into a second unplanned substitution, but the resultant free kick was fired into the top right corner by Marie Höbinger with 15 minutes to go.
Five minutes before the whistle, Clare Hunt drove a shot low to the right from just inside the box which took a heavy deflection from Gemma Bonner and wrong-footed Liverpool keeper Rachael Laws, drawing the hosts level.
It looked as though Liverpool had dropped two points for the third league match in a row before a contentious penalty call gifted the Reds a last-minute lifeline, which was coolly put away by Höbinger for her second of the match.
Tottenham are left rueing another match where their game management was called into question. Vilahamn said after the game: “How you start a game and make sure you get a game plan ready, it didn’t really succeed because the goal changed (things).”
Despite praising how his players came back into the game, with two difficult matches coming up away against Manchester United and Chelsea, Tottenham must take lessons away from their first defeat of the season.
