Ladies' debutant keeper scores winning penalty!

Young goalkeeper Emma Gibbon scored the decisive spot kick on her competitive debut to give Spurs Ladies a dramatic 10-9 penalty shootout victory against Brighton & Hove Albion in the Continental Tyres Cup at Cheshunt on Sunday, writes Rosie Bonass.

Spurs were in control at half-time with a 2-0 advantage thanks to goals from Rianna Dean and Megan Wynne, but Victoria Williams’ effort gave the Women’s Super League 1 side hope after the break, before Ini Umotong grabbed an injury time equaliser for the visitors.

For the second week running, the game was forced into penalties, in line with the Continental Tyres Cup rules, to determine who would get the bonus point up for grabs in Group One South.

Sophie McLean, Coral-Jade Haines, Dean and Anna Filbey all converted their penalties calmly but as Sophie Perry missed for Albion, so did Wendy Martin for the Lilywhites. The drama continued and Lucia Leon, Renée Hector, Jenna Schillaci, Wynne and Ashleigh Neville all scored to keep the side’s hopes alive.

And after the penalty disappointment against Crystal Palace last weekend, it was Spurs’ time to celebrate as Gibbon’s penalty kick secured the victory, following a miss by Lucy Gillett.

Triumph in the shootout meant that Spurs took two points from the game and moved up to third place in their group, ahead of London Bees, Yeovil Town and Brighton.

Karen Hills made three changes to the team that started against Palace last weekend as she handed 19-year-old Gibbon and Filbey their competitive debuts since joining the Lilywhites in the summer and introduced McLean into the midfield.

Spurs got off to a flying start and were one up after seven minutes as Albion goalkeeper Sophie Harris only managed to clear an effort on goal from Angela Addison into Dean’s path who converted calmly from close range.

Addison caused havoc for the Albion defence all afternoon and in a similar scenario to the first goal, Harris spilled a shot from the forward, but this time it was Wynne who was in the right place at the right time to slot home for 2-0.

Spurs looked most impressive out of the two sides and they should have led by three goals, but a strike from Neville was ruled off-side just before the half-time whistle.

As expected, Hope Powell’s side came out raring to go in the second period and some early pressure led to a goal from Williams, who drilled a deflected shot from Laura Rafferty inside Gibbon’s left-hand post after 51 minutes.

The away side had two more opportunities to equalise, the first came from Jenna Legg, who was denied superbly by Gibbon and then, eight minutes from full-time, Aileen Whelan had the ball in the back of the net, only to see her effort ruled out for off-side.

Second-half substitute Haines had a crack on goal late on and came extremely close from a free-kick on the left wing, but it went just inches off target.

However, Albion continued to pile on the pressure and came up with a dramatic 91st-minute equaliser as Umotong headed in a cross from Sophie Perry to make it 2-2.

There followed the shootout drama, with Gibbon the hero.

Key moment

The decisive spot-kick came from an unlikely source in Gibbon, but it was enough to secure Spurs an extra point in the standings, having had victory snatched away from them at the end of normal time.

The goalkeeper was pleased with her contribution in the game and was delighted to make her debut for Spurs: “It was a hard game. We were two up and thought we had it so to concede at the end of the game was harsh but we all just had to get our heads together to get through the penalties and we did just that,” she said.

“In the penalty shootout, I was just backing each of our players and wasn’t really thinking of anything else. I can’t say that I practiced that (her penalty kick) in training.

“I was just really glad I got my chance today and I’m happy with my performance. Some things didn’t go my way, but I was just happy to be given a shot.”

Spurs Ladies manager Karen Hills acknowledged how well her team performed against Women’s Super League 1 opposition and noted some impressive individual performances in the team.

“To play against a WSL team, knowing how well they played against Chelsea last week, we knew it was going to be tough, but I thought the players worked exceptionally hard and we played very well,” she commented.

“From the first whistle, we were on the front foot. Every single player stepped up today and we deserved that win. We knew that we had to look at a different formation today, because we respect Brighton and know them well, so we chose to play a little more defensively. I must give a special mention to Sophie McLean and Jess Naz who were outstanding and Emma Gibbon who played her first competitive game for us and she didn’t disappoint.

“Rianna Dean held that line really well, she worked tirelessly for her team, took her goal well and we’re extremely lucky to have her. Megan Wynne just gambles and gets into fantastic positions, so I’m pleased that she got her goal and again she’s another fantastic signing for us.

“Credit to Brighton, they put us under pressure in the second half and we started to get a little bit tired towards the last 10 minutes but overall, we’re happy with three points from two games in this competition.”

Match data

Goals: Spurs Ladies – Dean 7, Wynne 35; Brighton & Hove Albion – Williams 51, Umotong 90+1.

Referee: Andreas Anastasiou.

Venue: Cheshunt FC.