Spurs Women finish the league on a high at Birmingham City
Birmingham City Women 0-1 Spurs Women
Sun 09 May 2021, 19:00|Tottenham Hotspur
Spurs Women beat Birmingham City 1-0 in our final Barclay’s FA Women’s Super League game of the season at Damson Park on Sunday.
In a tight game, Kit Graham scored the winner with 19 minutes remaining, after she finished off a superb solo effort.
Rehanne Skinner made four changes from the side that lost 2-0 to Chelsea in midweek, with Graham, Jess Naz, Ashleigh Neville and Kerys Harrop returning to the XI.
Naz registered our first shot on target when Graham found her on the edge of the area from a corner. Her original shot was blocked, but the follow-up attempt was straight at Hannah Hampton in the Birmingham goal.
A nice interchange between Lucy Quinn and Neville was drilled across the face of the goal by the right-back, but it was too high for Rachel Williams who was arriving at the back post.
Despite plenty of possession and crosses into the hosts’ box, we were unable to create any clear-cut chances in the opening 45 minutes.
Birmingham had their first opportunity at the start of the second half when Claudia Walker picked up a loose ball, drove towards the goal and fired a low shot narrowly wide. Williams had a half chance for us when Naz’s wide free-kick was met by the striker, but she was unable to convert her header on target.
We took the lead in the 71st minute when Shelina Zadorsky found Graham with a 25-yard pass. She turned, dropped her shoulder, beat the defender and found the bottom corner with a superb left-footed finish to make it 1-0.
Harrop subsequently prevented a Birmingham equaliser with a superb block to stop Walker’s shot from heading towards the goal.
As the second half progressed we controlled the game. Naz was key to this, remaining influential both offensively and defensively throughout.
Rosella Ayane tried her luck from range and almost caught Hampton out, but the goalkeeper managed to keep hold of the shot.
The result means we finish the WSL season in eighth place. Our final game of the season is in the Vitality Women’s FA Cup against Sheffield United on Sunday (16 May) at the Hive.
Reaction on Spurs TV
'The points are great, and a clean sheet too'
Head Coach Rehanne Skinner told Spurs TV: “Kit’s goal was fantastic, we didn’t have enough passages of play like that in the game, Birmingham defended well and made life difficult for us, and it was going to take something with a little bit of quality like that to be able to break the deadlock. It was a fantastic strike and she’s been working really hard to get herself a goal. I’m really pleased for her.”
Birmingham City Women 0-1 Spurs Women
Birmingham City: Hampton, Scott (c), Brougham, Mace, Holloway, Whipp, Mayling, Green, Murphy, Napier, Walker. Substitute (not used): Whitehouse.
Spurs: Spencer, Neville (Davison 74), Zadorsky (c), Harrop, Peplow (Ayane 56), Williams, Cho, Graham, Naz, Quinn (Addison 56), McManus. Substitutes (not used): Martin, Green, Worm, E. Morgan.
Match data
Goal: Spurs - Graham 71.
Yellow card: Birmingham - Scott 88.
Referee: Lisa Benn.
Venue: Damson Park.
Weather: Sunny, 18 degrees.
Attendance: Behind closed doors.