Tottenham Women 1-1 Brighton Women: Bethany England scores late equaliser after Spurs concede first for third straight game
For the third game in a row, Tottenham conceded first despite having the lion’s share of early chances. Brighton’s top goalscorer Elisabeth Terland scored the opener in the 17th minute, putting her on 13 league goals this season. It wasn’t until Tottenham’s 16th shot that they got their equaliser in the 81st minute.
Brighton’s opener came after Lee Geum-Min found herself one-on-one with Becky Spencer who made a superb save but could only parry the ball to the edge of the box and the Tottenham defence failed to clear their lines. The ball quickly fell to star forward Terland. While her first attempt ricocheted off the bar, she ensured the rebound went past Spencer into the net.
With forward Martha Thomas missing from the line-up, Bethany England had most of the home side’s best chances. After some signs of frustration in the second half, her relief was palpable when she finally found the back of the net.
England’s equaliser kept Tottenham from falling to a first defeat in nearly two months.
The draw leaves Spurs 6th in the table on 27 points. They’ll now have to win two of their three remaining WSL fixtures to beat their record top-division points total of 32 points (21/22 season).
Spurs concede early again
Much has changed since the reverse fixture in October. Vilahamn’s side came away with a 3-1 win despite not being favourites going into that match. This time around, Tottenham were the favourites and had 23 shots to Brighton’s 8, but once again went down early.
Conceding early and first has been a common occurrence recently, but Vilahamn wasn’t concerned about that when asked at Thursday’s pre-match press conference.
“Yes, we want to dictate the game more. We want to have a better start. We don’t want to receive goals early in games. But you do that sometimes and then you just need to deal with that. So I’m fine with that as well, because I know the players can handle it.”
Vilahamn had similar sentiments after the match saying, “We had a good start. We’re playing attacking football. We’re creating good chances.
“How can we look at the first 15 minutes and be even sharper.”
His side showed why he has this faith in them. Tottenham never gave up despite playing most of the game down by 1 and staring down their first defeat in six. Even after scoring the late equaliser, they didn’t seem content with a draw.
An intense final 10 minutes failed to result in a winner. Spurs will be frustrated they didn’t do more especially after hitting the post twice in the final minutes.
The tail-end of the season
Spurs have four games to play, including next up at Everton on 4 May and their FA Cup Final clash against Manchester United on 12 May. The Seagulls have just two WSL matches remaining in their season, with their next match against Aston Villa at home on 4 May.
Top goalscorer Thomas, who was forced off early at Manchester United, and Drew Spence faced late fitness tests before today’s game and were ultimately deemed not ready. Forward Celin Bizet Ildhusøy is also out. All three are expected to be short-term absences.
