Spurs Women suffer FA Cup exit

The damage was done in 12 first-half minutes as Spurs Women suffered a 5-1 defeat to Arsenal Women in the delayed quarter-finals of the 2020/21 Vitality Women’s FA Cup at Meadow Park on Wednesday (29 September).

Rachel Williams’ early scorcher was cancelled out by Mana Iwabuchi's long-range effort, before a quickfire flurry put the tie out of reach prior to half-time, Asmita Ale's own goal added to by Caitlin Foord and Nikita Parris with Foord doubling her tally in the second half as we were eliminated from the tournament, carried over from last season into the current campaign in the aftermath of the pandemic.

Rehanne Skinner made two changes from the side that beat Reading 1-0 at the weekend. Jiali Tang was handed her full debut for the Club and Josie Green also returned to the starting line-up.

It was the perfect start for us as we took the lead in the third minute. Ale’s cross was headed into the path of Ashleigh Neville, who flicked the ball to Williams. She swivelled and unleashed a left-footed rocket which flew into the top corner to make it 1-0. Arsenal immediately looked to level the scores but were denied by our resilient back line. First Parris had an effort blocked on the line by Ale, then a goalmouth scramble saw Parris’ attempts kept out just minutes later.

But our resolve was broken in the 15th minute through Iwabuchi. We failed to clear our lines and the forward picked the ball up on the edge of the area and found the top corner.

Arsenal then took the lead after an unfortunate touch off of Ale saw the ball go into the net. A Tobin Heath free-kick was met by Lotte Wubben-Moy who fired the across the six-yard box, her effort deflected in by the right-back. It was three for the hosts moments later as Parris interchanged with Iwabuchi and her low cross was squeezed underneath Becky Spencer by Foord.

Maeva Clemaron came close to getting us back in the game but her powerful strike flew over the crossbar, and the score became 4-1 just before half-time when Katie McCabe’s wide free-kick was headed back across goal by Anna Patten and flicked in by Parris.

We started the second half with more confidence, Williams delivering an inviting cross into the box which dropped to Chioma Ubogagu, but Lydia Williams in the Arsenal goal was equal to her low attempt. Ria Percival’s ensuing goal-bound corner was then tipped away by the hosts’ keeper.

Substitute Kit Graham was inches away from reducing the lead with a low left-footed strike that fizzed just wide of the far post, however, Foord made it 5-1 as Arsenal took the ball from defence to attack quickly, with Beth Mead curling a cross towards the back post that was turned in by the striker.

The result means we exit the FA Cup at the quarter-final stage for the second year in a row, although we'll have a chance to go further when we enter the 2021/22 instalment of the competition later this season. Our next game is back in the Barclay’s FA Women’s Super League on Sunday (3 October) at Leicester City.

Match data

Goals: Arsenal - Iwabuchi 15, Ale (OG) 32, Foord 36, 73, Parris 44; Spurs - Williams 3.

Referee: Kirsty Dowle.

Venue: Meadow Park.

Weather: Clear skies, eight degrees.

'We kept fighting until the end.'

Head Coach Rehanne Skinner told SpursTV afterwards: "We started in a really good way. Arsenal got into the game a little bit more so we let off in terms of getting pressure on the ball so they had more time and space and you can't let a team like Arsenal do that. We had opportunities to press higher up the pitch that we should have taken and we weren't as good in possession as we should have been. The second half was different, the subs had a positive impact, we built some momentum and created more chances.

"We carried on fighting until the end. We want to be the hardest working team and we worked incredibly hard from start to finish. Tonight is disappointing but we're looking forward to the next game. We still should have the belief and momentum from our previous league games going into the next one. We want to work hard for the fans, for each other and the Club to keep moving us forward - that part is really important. At no point did we give up, we kept fighting until the end and that's got to happen every single week. For every game so far that's exactly what has happened and that's what we're going to be doing moving forward."