Late turn around sees Spurs Women bow out of the FA Cup

Spurs Women bowed out of the FA Cup after Leicester City turned around Sunday's fourth round tie at the Hive.

Everything looked rosy with 80 minutes on the clock. We were in control, deservedly 1-0 up after Angela Addison turned home Jess Naz's cross on the hour, Viktoria Schnaderbeck was on for her debut and the visitors, well organised throughout, had only managed shots from distance.

But it all changed on 81 minutes. Shannon O'Brien won possession as we looked to play out from the back, composed herself and smashed the equaliser into the top corner from 20 yards. Then, with extra time less than a minute old, Sophie Howard hooked the ball over Becky Spencer to hand Leicester the lead. Esmee De Graaf wrapped it up for the visitors in the final seconds.

It was a tough defeat to take, but Rehanne Skinner will take positives from the first 80 minutes of the performance, debuts for new arrivals Schnaderbeck and Eveliina Summanen attention will quickly turn to a special game this week - the club's first senior cup semi-final as we take on Manchester City in the last four of the Continental Cup.

Rehanne made three changes to the team that started against Manchester United last weekend. Becky Spencer was back in goal with Asmita Ale and Angela Addison in for Kerys Harrop and Josie Green. Schnaderbeck and Summanen were on the bench having joined us this week.

Clear-cut chances were few and far between in the first half. The closest either team came to breaking the deadlock was in the 17th minute when Rachel Williams saw her header from Ria Percival's corner cleared off the line by Jess Sigsworth.

Rosella Ayane had a couple of decent efforts, a shot from 25 yards straight at Demi Lambourne before sweeping over Naz's cross. Naz also broke onto Addison's pass but Georgia Brougham got back to block. At the other end, Molly Pike curled over, Sigsworth headed wide and Spencer's only serious action was fielding O'Brien's effort from just outside the box.

We took complete control in the second half. Lambourne did well to save at the feet of Addison, Ayane drilled straight at the keeper from the angle, Naz's shot looked good until it was deflected over and Ashleigh Neville fired wide from 25 yards all inside 12 minutes of the restart.

It felt like a goal was coming, and it arrived on the hour. Naz got away down the right, shifted past Ashleigh Plumptre and crossed for Addison to convert at the far post. Schnaderbeck came on for her debut just after goal, partnering Shelina Zadorsky at the back, with Molly Bartrip stepping into midfield.

Everything looked under control until the vistors, who hadn't carved us open at any point, found an equaliser from nowhere on 81 minutes. O'Brien robbed Zadorksy stepping out from the back, took a couple of touches and drilled into the top corner.

We almost found a winner in the final seconds. First, Naz's shot was touched onto the post by Lambourne, who then palmed away Ayane's curler. Bartrip almost got in but Sigsworth, still back for the corner, just managed to poke the ball away.

Extra time was only 40 seconds old when Leicester got in front. Howard chased a diagonal ball over the top that bounced into our area, reached and managed to cushion a lob over Spencer and home. The closest we came to levelling in the first added half was when Percival just failed to reach Naz's low cross.

Summanen came off the bench for her debut for the start of the second half of extra time. Percival forced another save from Lambourne but Leicester put the issue beyond doubt when Esmee De Graaf charged down Spencer's clearance as she chased back from going up for a corner and walked the ball into the empty net.

'We’ve really got to learn from this'

Speaking after the tie at the Hive, Rehanne told us: "It’s the game, isn’t it? Unfortunately, we’ve switched off and given them a goal that has then put them level, then you’re under a little more pressure. Look, the positives are that we dominated possession and big chunks of the game, but, bottom line, you’ve then got to make sure you can maintain the lead and we haven’t done that. We’ve really got to learn from this. It’s happened twice now where we’ve conceded when we’ve been ahead, and that’s not something we were doing at the start of the season. We’ve spoken about it, and everyone acknowledges we’ve got to address it and make sure it doesn’t keep happening."

Match data

Goals: Spurs - Addison 60; Leicester City - O'Brien 81, Howard 91, De Graaf 120+1.

Yellow cards: Leicester City - O'Brien 39, Barker 49, Broughton 64, McManus 120.

Referee: Robert Whitton.

Weather: Crisp, sunny, 8 degrees at kick-off.

Venue: The Hive, Barnet FC.

Attendance: 596.