Sat 20 May 2023, 18:15
Tottenham HotspurVicky Jepson was thrilled with our performance in Saturday’s 4-1 win against Reading at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, as the win secured our status in the Barclays Women’s Super League for 2023/24.
Going into the game, we knew that a win would be enough to see us go into the finale at West Ham United with our survival confirmed.
Interim Head Coach Vicky stuck with her tried and tested 4-3-3 formation, but it was goalkeeping coach Ryan Hudson who was most pleased to see our first goal scored by way of a well-worked set-piece routine, finished by Bethany England.
We produced one of our best team goals of the season with half-time approaching, a tidy passage of play in midfield allowing Eveliina Summanen to put Celin Bizet through on goal, who remained calm and composed for 2-0.
England netted her brace and our third with a smart lob in the 62nd minute, before Kit Graham made it four with 15 minutes remaining. Justine Vanhaevermaet’s late goal for Reading proved a mere consolation.
We had heads held high, shoulders back, and so much belief.
Speaking to SPURSPLAY, Vicky told us: “I’m absolutely over the moon with that performance. We were under a significant amount of pressure playing at a home stadium straight after a Premier League game, so that was a first for us.
“The way we started the game from the first whistle, I’m incredibly proud of the starting 11 and the way that they took it to them. They had their heads held high, shoulders back, so much belief in the way that they created opportunities in front of goal.
“Defensively, we nullified anything Reading threw at us, so from that point of view it was a dominating performance.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the players, the starters, the finishers and even the supporters, and of course the staff that have worked tirelessly hard to make sure that we give the players everything that they could possibly ask for to make sure that they compete and perform at the levels that they displayed today.”
We took the lead when Summanen’s short corner set Molly Bartrip up to lift a cross to the far post for England to head home, and Vicky explained: “Ryan, our goalkeeping coach, has been working tirelessly hard on set-pieces. We know Reading are a threat on set-pieces, one of the best in the league, so in the past two weeks we’ve been preparing the girls defensively and working on creative attacking set-plays, so he was over the moon when that one went in.
“As for the second goal, Celin’s been fantastic today, the way she started the game. Both wide players, Ros [Ayane] and Celin were fantastic, working off the full-backs shoulders, picking the moments when to come in front or run in behind. I thought they caused problems for the full-backs all game.”
One moment that flew under the radar, in the 53rd minute, was Ayane tracking back to win the ball from Reading, demonstrative of the work-rate and attitude required to stay in the league.
“It’s the hunger and determination to want to win,” Vicky added. “They knew that and that’s what this game was all about. We had to get three points. When you see Rosella sprinting all the way back from box to box to make a recovery challenge so they don’t have a free shot on the edge of the box, that’s the attitude we need, especially when you’re in a relegation battle. You can’t be carrying anybody and nobody can be a luxury player, and we certainly didn’t have any luxury players today.
“They have to enjoy themselves tonight, but of course we want to build on what we’ve just done today and we don’t want to lower our standards. We want to finish the season on a high, because we’ve had plenty of lows this season, so we want to move on and continue on a high.”
