Stunning comeback puts Ladies on brink of top-two finish

Ashleigh Neville was at the heart of an incredible comeback for Spurs Ladies, as they recovered from falling two goals behind to beat fellow promotion-chasers Charlton 3-2 at The Oakwood on Sunday, writes Rosie Bonass.

Liz Ejupi headed the Addicks ahead in the first half before Kit Graham doubled their advantage shortly after the break, leaving Spurs with a massive uphill task to accomplish against their local rivals.

A penalty converted by Rianna Dean for a foul on substitute Angela Addison sparked the comeback for the Lilywhites in the second half, before Neville headed in corners from Jenna Schillaci twice to seal a stunning victory against all odds.

The Lilywhites are now just three points away from securing a top-two finish in the FA Women’s Championship with two games remaining – a trip to Aston Villa (1 May) and third-placed Durham (12 May).

Spurs returned to league action following a three-week break in fixtures and manager Karen Hills made three changes to her side, who suffered back-to-back defeats in March, as Jessica Naz, Lucia Leon and Sarah Wiltshire were named in the starting line-up.

It was a cagey first half and although Charlton kept Chloe Morgan occupied in goal, their first clear-cut chance didn’t transpire until the 18th minute when the goalkeeper was forced into making a fine save to deny Charley Clifford from a free-kick.

The home side broke the deadlock with four minutes remaining of the first half as Ejupi nodded in a cross from Charlotte Gurr. And the Addicks doubled their lead within a minute of the restart – an excellent long-range hit from Graham stunned the away team and led Hills into changing the formation as Addison was introduced into attack, with Sophie Mclean making way in midfield.

Spurs looked a serious threat following Addison’s arrival into the game – the pacey forward had only been on the pitch for three minutes before she was fouled in the box by Sara Eggesvik to win a penalty for her side. Top goalscorer Dean stepped up to take the spot-kick and made no mistake from 12 yards as she drilled the ball past Katie Startup into the bottom left corner.

With 20 minutes remaining, Neville leaped the highest to head in Schillaci’s brilliant corner at the near post to draw Spurs level. And 10 minutes later, she scored a carbon copy of her equalising goal – this time her thumping header from Schillaci’s corner won it in dramatic style, in a game that will go down as one of the greatest in Spurs Ladies’ history.

Match reaction

“The girls were fantastic in the second half – it was certainly a game of two halves,” manager Hills said after her side’s magnificent comeback. “In the first half, I thought we looked nervous. They executed their game plan well, but I knew we had that character, passion and desire, and what a second-half performance it was! Credit to Angela (Addison), she came on and caused them all sorts of problems, got the penalty at a key moment and Rianna (Dean) putting the ball in the back of the net showed us we could come back. Charlton are a really good side so we knew we had a lot to do today. This is a great victory and we needed these three points so we’re going to enjoy it but then it’s back to work on Tuesday with all focus on the Aston Villa game.”

Head Coach Juan Amoros added: “Mauricio (Pochettino) said the other day that his players are heroes and I think our players are as well. After going 2-0 down, they didn’t stop working and they knew what was needed. The way they came back into the game was totally unbelievable and credit to them. They stepped up, defended the badge and worked hard for each other – it was absolutely tremendous from everyone and those three points are key.”

Following her superb brace, Neville said: “For a left-back to score two important goals is probably one of the best feelings ever. We knew we needed to go for it and give it everything. Conceding the early goal in the second half didn’t put us down, it made us want it more and we went on and scored three goals in under 30 minutes.  We know how close we are to reaching our goal so we knew we had to come here today and win it. We all stuck together and that’s what spurred us on.”

Match data

Goals: Charlton – Ejupi 41, Graham 46; Spurs Ladies – Dean 53 (pen), Neville 70, 80.

Referee: Simon Finnigan.

Venue: The Oakwood, Bexleyheath.