Man Utd 2-2 Spurs (WSL) | Robert’s verdict: “The players fought so well”
Sun 21 April 2024, 17:00|
Tottenham Hotspur
Robert Vilahamn was pleased with the hard-fought performance from his side as an injury time equaliser from Manchester United saw the points shared in a 2-2 draw on Sunday afternoon in the Barclays Women’s Super League.
For a second consecutive game, we fell behind early in the first half, Melvine Malard heading home for the hosts, but two goals in two minutes from Bethany England and Jess Naz turned the game in our favour just after the half hour mark at Leigh Sports Village.
Having withstood United’s pressure for the next 60 minutes, Becky Spencer producing some crucial saves and some resilient defending, they found the leveller in the second minute of injury time as Maya Le Tissier forced the ball home from point-blank range.
A vast improvement on our previous result against United earlier in the season – where Marc Skinner’s side ran out 4-0 winners at Brisbane Road - Robert praised the players’ efforts throughout the game and believes it’s a good point on the road.
“A draw away at Manchester United is a good result,” he told SPURSPLAY after the game. “We did a good performance in the first half, played some very good football, scored some nice goals and created some good chances, but when you don’t hold it until the last-minute and they score to make it 2-2, it’s so disappointing because, I think, the girls deserved to win for how they fought. It was an even game, but the girls fought so well.
“One of the things we can look at is how good we are at coming back for when the opponents score early, how we just kept going and the energy we put in. Bethany [England] on the right-wing doing all those amazing blocks, pressing everything, so when you see that and played some good football, it’s a good thing because we want to have both. They were showing real energy to compete for this Club and that makes me proud.”
When asked about the team’s defensive display, he said: “We spoke a lot about box defending before the game and taking the duels inside the box as Man Utd score a lot of goals from crosses, Luana [Bühler], Amy [James-Turner], Ashleigh [Neville] and Amanda [Nildén] took every duel, they defended with heart and strength, and that’s really nice to see.”
