Women produce stunning comeback to defeat Hammers

We returned to winning ways in the Barclays Women's Super League with a superb second-half comeback win over West Ham United on Sunday afternoon.

Having fallen behind within the first 10 minutes of the game as Shekiera Martinez finished off a well-worked move from the hosts, we had it all to do in the second 45.

However, we came out fighting, and that was embodied by the performance of Maltilda Vinberg, who impressed throughout and was rewarded with a goal to boot, levelling proceedings nine minutes into the second period.

We were then treated to an absolute stunner from Olivia Holdt on 74 minutes, who rifled home from distance with a strike worthy of winning any game.

There was disappointment late on for us as Drew Spence was shown a red card in the final seconds of the game following a collision with the Hammers' Riko Ueki, but we were able to hold on and claim all three points, moving us level with Arsenal in fourth.

After just 43 seconds on the clock in east London, we carved out our first chance as Bethany England’s pull-back found Signe Gaupset on the right of the six-yard box but she lifted the ball over the bar. Our captain then sent a half-volley from the edge of the area narrowly wide but, despite the play being all in our opponents’ half in the first 10 minutes, it was the hosts who broke the deadlock, arguably against the run of play.

Starting with Viviane Asseyi down the left, she picked out Leila Wandeler on the right of the box, who fizzed a low ball across the face of the goal for Martinez to tap home from close range. That sparked the Hammers into life, who looked a constant threat in transition, with Martinez at the forefront of their attacks, this time playing a reverse pass to set Asseyi through, her effort slipped through the hands of Lize Kop and towards goal, but Toko Koga recovered well to clear off the line.

A flurry of chances came our way in the closing stages of the first period, with two of our corners from direct being cleared off the line. First Vinberg’s delivery from the right was headed away by Endo on the line, then, in injury time, Endo was in the right place at the right time to clear Eveliina Summanen’s corner from the left as we went in behind at the break.

We needed a response after the restart which duly came nine minutes later when Vinberg produced a moment of quality to level the scores. With Koga playing the ball to our number 13 on the edge of the box, far right, Vinberg cut inside and unleashed a powerful strike into the top right corner – her first league goal of the campaign. Both sides searched for the lead with each goalkeeper called into action as first Walsh was on hand to push Holdt’s low drive around the post before Kop got down low to her right to deny Ueki’s header.

Then, as we entered the final quarter of the game, another moment of magic was produced to complete the turnaround in the London derby. Substitute Tuva Hansen’s wayward pass fell to the feet of Holdt, centrally and around 25 yards out, and she made no mistake with her first-time strike, picking out the bottom right corner with a fantastic right-footed effort to net her sixth goal of the campaign.

Beaming with confidence after the goal, Holdt fired wide from the edge of the box but, as we entered the closing stages of the games, we had to withstand late pressure from the home side but limited them to very few clearcut opportunities. In the sixth minute of stoppage time, Spence was shown a straight red card for a strong challenge on Ueki in the middle of the park but that didn’t disrupt our spoils on the day as we claimed our first away win the WSL since late September.

In terms of team news, Julie Blakstad was handed her first start since joining at the start of January in one of two changes by Martin Ho, replacing Amanda Nilden at full-back, while midfielder Eveliina Summanen made her 100th appearance for the Club.

Match data

Goals: West Ham – Martinez 10; Spurs – Vinberg 54, Holdt 73

Yellow cards: West Ham – Ueki 77; Spurs – Tandberg 88.

Red card: Spurs – Spence 90+6.

Referee: Emily Heaslip.

Venue: Chigwell Construction Stadium, Dagenham.

Weather: Spells of rain, nine degrees.

Attendance: N/A.