Chelsea 6-2 Spurs, Women's Super League | Martin Ho's verdict
Martin Ho shared his frustrations of being competitive for 60 minutes before a flurry of goals from Chelsea in quick succession condemned us to a 6-2 defeat in the Women’s Super League.
Despite falling behind the first half after Lauren James’ opener at Stamford Bridge, we were very much in the contest, created better opportunities and eventually got a deserving equaliser through Matilda Vinberg just four minutes before the break.
With the momentum in our favour, we came out of the blocks and tested Hannah Hampton on a few occasions but, after Ellie Carpenter restored Chelsea’s lead on 58 minutes, the floodgates opened for the home side.
James, Sjoken Nuksen and former Spurs loanee Maika Hamano extended their advantage and although Signe Gaupset grabbed us a consolation goal with three minutes left in normal time, Carpenter grabbed her second and Chelsea’s sixth to round off a disappointing afternoon.
“For 60 minutes, I thought we were good but then, after the 60-minute mark, we dropped our level,” Martin told SPURSPLAY, speaking after the game in west London. “We didn't stick to the things we were doing in the first half and parts of the second half. Too many probably loose actions and then we concede too many goals too quickly. When you do that, it deflates you even more and then you can't get a foothold in the game and they grow in confidence.
“We went down 1-0, which I didn't think we were deserving of, and then we came back into the game. First half, we had numerous other chances where you need to capitalise maybe in those moments to stay on top against good teams. Then, in the second half, we came out and started really well for 15 minutes and then we conceded the second goal.
“Once we conceded that, we concede another two very quickly. We don't recover quickly enough in terms of psychologically and then by the time they've got that third one, you try and push, you concede another one again, I think two in nine minutes and then, yeah, it makes it really hard then.
“I don't want to concede those. I'm probably the first to say at the start, the accountability is with me in terms of as a coach, but I don't want to concede six goals in any game. It's not good enough for me. It's not good enough for anyone. When we reflect on it, and we did in the post-game huddle, in terms of we have to take individual accountability, individual responsibility, and hold each other accountable because in certain moments we can defend better than we're doing there. We're just not showing the right characteristics in some moments.”