Vicky Jepson on ‘well-earned point’ against Brighton
Sun 30 April 2023, 19:15|
Tottenham Hotspur
Vicky Jepson was pleased to see us come from behind twice in Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but felt we shouldn’t have let the visitors take the lead in the Barclays Women’s Super League contest.
We were 1-0 down inside ten minutes due to Elisabeth Terland’s opener for The Seagulls, but Bethany England pulled one back with an instinctive header from a Kerys Harrop corner that was flicked on by Eveliina Summanen.
Lee Geum-min gave the away side the lead again in the 65th minute, before England smashed in our equaliser again to reduce the arrears.
“I’m disappointed with the fact that we went behind because that shouldn’t be happening on our home turf in front of our home fans, however there’s a positive because we came back twice," Vicky said.
“In all these games that we play, we can’t come away empty handed and we’ve not. It’s a well-earned point.”
Kit Graham was brought on with half an hour to go and created our second goal of the game, while Mana Iwabuchi and Jessica Naz were also introduced before Ria Percival made her long-awaited return from injury.
'Every single sub changed the game'
“The subs that came on really impacted the game,” Vicky said. “We created so many attacking opportunities. There were three chances that we had where we could’ve gone on to win the game.
“Having Ria Percival back from a long-term injury, she’d been out for a year, and it was like she’d never left. For her to come back on the pitch lifted the spirits and Jessica Naz gave us pace down the wings. Every single sub that came on really changed the game and we finished it on a high. From that point of view, the game changers were brilliant. We’ve just got to make sure that we’re in a position of not going behind.”
England has now scored nine goals in her last 11 games in all competitions for Spurs, having joined the Club in January.
'We'll reflect on what we need to do better'
“If you feed her the ball in the right areas, like we did in behind, and she’s one-v-one with the keeper, nine times out of ten Beth’s going to finish because that’s how clinical she is,” Vicky added. “Kit Graham has returned from a long-term injury and had a great impact instantly in the game, so I’m really pleased for her as well.”
Attention now turns to Manchester United away, as we travel to Leigh Sports Village next weekend.
“There’s no pressure on us so we’ve got to enjoy that moment and frustrate them,” Vicky said. “We’ll regroup, come in tomorrow for recovery and get our mirror out to reflect on what we need to do better from today’s game.”
