Thu 13 December 2018, 17:26
Tottenham HotspurSpurs Ladies bowed out of the Continental Tyres Cup, following a 5-0 loss to Chelsea Women on Wednesday night, writes Rosie Bonass.
Deanna Cooper, Ali Riley, Karen Carney and Bethany England (2) provided the goals for the Blues on a frosty night at Theobalds Lane as Spurs finished fourth overall in Group One South.
The visitors had already topped the group before the game but Spurs needed three points in order to qualify for the next round, and for Yeovil Town to get something in their tie against Brighton.
But it sadly wasn’t to be for Spurs as the two Women’s Super League teams - Chelsea and Brighton - progressed to the quarter-finals of the cup.
Emma Gibbon, Bianca Baptiste, Anna Filbey and Coral-Jade Haines came into the starting line-up for the final game of the year as Chloe Morgan, Sarah Wiltshire, Rianna Dean and Angela Addison were named on the bench in a much-changed Spurs side.
The Lilywhites should have taken the lead in the opening minute after Chelsea failed to deal with a cross whipped into the box by Ashleigh Neville, but Megan Wynne’s effort at the back post was fired over the crossbar.
Cooper broke the deadlock for the Blues after 10 minutes and it was a sloppy goal for Spurs to concede from a corner kick that the Chelsea defender bundled in from close range. A second goal for the visitors followed in the 18th minute as Riley curled the ball into the top right corner from the edge of the box.
Carney scored Chelsea’s third just a minute after half-time as she slotted the ball past Gibbon at the near post.
The visitors extended their lead on the hour mark after Gibbon had made a superb stop to deny England for her first effort, but she headed it home with her second chance, before scoring again 17 minutes later as she converted a ball in from Riley into the top right corner.
Towards the end of the game, Spurs were offering more offensively with the introduction of Addison up front and Dean and Naz both had efforts saved by Durak in the last 15 minutes, but Chelsea already had the win wrapped up in a tough night for Spurs at Cheshunt FC.
This was a learning experience and as a group we’ll take the positives from it, and there were plenty of them in that performance
Match reaction
“We know when we face Chelsea that it’s always a tough challenge,” said head coach Juan Amoros. “We had a very good chance in the first minute and if we had put that away maybe it could have been a different story. We conceded a sloppy goal and then went 2-0 down before half-time, and then in the second half we tried to press them a bit more and they scored three more.
“For us this was a learning experience and as a group we’ll take the positives from it, and there were plenty of them in that performance. We have done really well and as coaches and a team we are really proud of what we have achieved in this first half of the season and we won’t relax and will start preparing for the next game in January.”
Spurs Ladies 0-5 Chelsea
Spurs Ladies: Emma Gibbon, Josie Green, Sophie Mclean, Renée Hector, Bianca Baptiste (Rianna Dean 70), Jenna Schillaci (c), Megan Wynne, Anna Filbey, Jessica Naz, Ashleigh Neville (Lucia Leon 66), Coral-Jade Haines (Angela Addison 55). Substitutes (not used): Chloe Morgan, Anne Meiwald, Ryah Vyse, Sarah Wiltshire.
Chelsea Women: Durack, Carter, Cooper, Eriksson, Riley, Asante, Bailey, Engman, Cuthbert (Spence 78), Carney (c), England. Substitutes (not used): Telford, Blundell, Bright, Ingle, So-Yun, Andersson.
Match data
FA Women's Continental Tyres Cup, Group One South.
Goals: Chelsea Women - Deanna Cooper 10, Ali Riley 18, Karen Carney 46, Bethany England 60, 72.
Referee: Abigail Marriott.
Venue: Cheshunt FC.
