Naz strike sees Spurs Women edge Toffees

Spurs Women’s bright campaign in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League continued on Sunday afternoon as we moved back up to third place with a 1-0 victory over Everton at the Hive.

After showing resilience in the early stages in north London to make sure we wouldn’t come unstuck against the Toffees, a fine finish from Jess Naz six minutes into the second half sealed all three points, making it three matches unbeaten in all competitions.

Under a light haze at the Hive, we made a slow start to proceedings as our visitors enjoyed the opening moments of the encounter. A side we had never beaten in the WSL, the Toffees forced their first opportunity on 15 minutes with defender Gabrielle George heading wide of the mark from Izzy Christiansen’s cross. Forward Anna Anvergard was then unable to get the required contact to beat Tinja-Riikka Korpela from close range seven minutes later before the Finland international was called into action once more to tip over Toni Duggan’s cross-come-shot on 26.

Our first shot in anger came on the half hour mark as we began to settle into the game. Ria Percival reclaimed possession in the centre of the park before releasing Naz, but the striker’s shot from distance was easily gathered by the opposition goalkeeper, Courtney Brosnan. Down the other end though, it was Korpela who remained the busier of the two ‘keepers as she was once again forced to show her reflexes on 31, sprawling to her right to deny a Grace Clinton strike from range.

Despite that chance, our momentum in the game continued to build and the chances began to arrive for us. On 35, Ashleigh Neville ventured forward to draw a save from Brosnan and then five minutes later, a Rachel Williams header dropped just the wrong side of the post.

That was a sign of things to come though as within six minutes of the restart, we had the lead. Williams was the creator, spotting the run of Naz down the left to slip her in and the forward did the rest, cleverly clipping the ball into the top-right hand corner from the angle. We then had two gilt-edged chances to double our lead in the space of two minutes as we pushed to really assert our dominance. First, Williams could only direct her powerful header straight at Brosnan on 68 minutes before Naz then played in a teasing ball right across the face of goal, but So-hyun Cho, who was sliding in at the back post, was unable to connect.

Despite being unable to create that desired breathing space on the scoreline, we remained in control, limiting the visitors to very few chances as we closed out the game. Late in stoppage time, the Toffees did manage to register a further effort on target as Lucy Graham struck with a dipping shot from distance but, once again, Korpela was behind it. In the final seconds of the game, substitute Chioma Ubogago then had the opportunity to make sure of the win for us, but she dragged her near-post drive wide of the target.

The narrow victory made it back-to-back wins for us in the WSL ahead of the winter break. We return to action on 7 January, 2022, as we make the trip to second-placed Chelsea.

Match data

Goals: Spurs - Naz 51.

Yellow cards: Spurs - Naz 14, Neville 56; Everton – Clinton 39, Graham 43.

Referee: Elizabeth Simms.

Weather: Cloudy with a light haze, three degrees.

Venue: The Hive, Barnet FC.