Women suffer cup loss to Blues

Spurs Women lost out 5-1 to Chelsea at Kingsmeadow in the Continental League Cup on Wednesday night as the Blues secured top spot in Group D.

Goals in the second half from Drew Spence, Erin Cuthbert, Deanna Cooper and a brace from Bethany England sealed the win for the hosts who remain unbeaten in all competitions this season.

Rosella Ayane pulled one back for us late on against her former side, with her first goal for the Club since arriving from Bristol City in the summer.

Head Coaches Karen Hills and Juan Amoros made eight changes to the side that started against Arsenal at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday as Chloe Morgan, Jenna Schillaci, Coral-Jade Haines, Lucia Leon, Megan Wynne, Angela Addison, Ayane and Lucy Quinn were all named in the starting line-up against Emma Hayes’ side.

We created an early chance when a whipped cross from Wynne was met by the head of Addison, but her effort was blocked and quickly gathered by Carly Telford.

Chelsea took the lead in the 50th minute when Spence drove a right-footed shot into the net and that lead was doubled six minutes later when Cuthbert converted a penalty after Hannah Blundell was fouled in the box by Ashleigh Neville.

Three minutes after that, Chelsea had their third. England was cleverly played in and she made no mistake from six yards out. Cooper extended the hosts’ lead further when she scored their fourth of the evening in the 76th minute.

Ayane did bag her first goal of the season when she rose highest in the box and powered a header past Telford in the 78th minute. Chelsea made sure of the points, though, six minutes later when England got her second and the Blues’ fifth of the match after nodding home a Magdalena Eriksson free-kick that had crashed off the crossbar.

Coach’s view

Head Coach Juan Amoros said: “In the first half we did really well and we were in the game, we were causing them problems, I think we had some good chances and did well to limit theirs. Then suddenly in the second half to go 3-0 down against Chelsea, it’s always going to be a big mountain to climb. Are we pleased with the performance? No, because we didn’t want to just compete, we wanted to win. We knew this week was going to be tough for us, especially physically, playing three games against top sides in this country. The eight changes we made today performed really well but those first 10 minutes in the second half killed the game for us and I think if you want to compete at this level, you cannot give away the goals that we did tonight.”

Match data

Goals: Chelsea – Spence 49, Cuthbert 56, England 58, 84, Cooper 75; Spurs – Ayane 79.

Yellow cards: Chelsea – Wardlaw 34; Spurs - Haines 16, Neville 82.

Referee: Lisa Benn.

Venue: Kingsmeadow.

Weather: Partly cloudy, three degrees.

Attendance: 1,999.