Another Bellwood stunner earns Women’s Under-19s victory over Addicks

Grace Bellwood scored another stunning goal as our Women’s Under-19s earned a late 2-1 victory over Charlton Athletic in the Professional Game Academy League on Wednesday afternoon.

Having curled home a beauty with her right foot in our Capital Cup win at Dulwich Hamlet at the weekend, Bellwood produced another stunner as we met the Addicks, smashing the ball home off the underside of the crossbar 10 minutes to see us to victory over the south London side.

We needed a moment of quality to edge the clash as it looked destined to finish level after Jhanaie Pierre’s early opener – her third goal in two league games - was cancelled out by Mia Harvey in the first period. That was until Bellwood’s second goal in as many games saw us return to winning ways in the league.

Alongside the positive result, midfielder Ruby Mace also made her return to action for the first time since September, as she started and completed the full 90 minutes, while defender Evie Northwood was named in a matchday squad for a competitive game for the first time since October, 2024.

We made the best possible start as, just two minutes into the contest at Hotspur Way, Pierre continued her fine goalscoring form in recent weeks, firing home from the left side of the box into the far top corner after some good footwork to beat her defender in the build-up. The visitors responded well to falling behind early, winning a number of corners which came to nothing in the end but, just before the midway point of the first period, the Addicks found the leveller.

Although Radbourne produced a superb save down to her right to deny Amelia Craig-Lucking from inside the area, in a central position, Harvey reacted the quickest to the loose ball to slot home on the rebound. In truth, there was very few clear-cut opportunities from that point onwards in the first half, with Frankie Finlayson’s free-kick from the edge of the box routine for Radbourne before Pierre saw a powerful effort pushed over the bar by Anjola Adekoya just before the break the only ones of note.

Grace Breen was introduced at the break as we searched to reinstate our advantage and the defender was involved in our first chance after the restart, her long ball over to the right found Pierre but she sent a curling effort over the bar from the far left of the box. Although we controlled large parts of the play in the second period, we struggled to break down a resolute Charlton defence and test goalkeeper Adekoya while, at the other end, we were indebted to some last-ditch defending by Holly-Mae Elmes, who poked the ball away from Harvey as she raced behind the backline and set herself one-on-one with Radbourne.

We knew a moment of magic was needed to find the breakthrough and, similar to our cup clash in east London on Sunday, young forward Bellwood was on hand to produce that with another stunner. Receiving the ball on the edge of the box on the right side, with her back to goal, the young forward cut on to her left and curled into the top far corner, with some help of the underside of the crossbar, to put us back ahead in the contest – and arguably another nomination for March’s Goal of the Month award. Lexi Withey guided a first time effort wide after she was picked out by Mace’s low ball into the box following a strong run by the midfielder, but Bellwood’s strike was enough to earn us back-to-back victories – and our first in the league since early February.

"I think the difference and the improvement in our mentality shows that we were able to grind out the result"

Reflecting on the game, Head Coach Sabiha Jamal said: “I thought we were the better team. It wasn’t our best performance, however, but I think the difference and the improvement in our mentality shows that we were able to grind out the result by staying patient and working hard. There’s trust in each other and the confidence is growing which you can see in the goals we’ve scored recently and massive credit to Grace with her second outstanding winner in the same week.

“I’ve kept saying how young the squad is at the moment, to acknowledge how well they are doing and how things are starting to click, so I look at this past week as a real positive – that second half display against Leicester City, an unbelievable performance against Dulwich and an important win this afternoon in the league. The momentum is huge from back-to-back wins, and we can now take this into London City Lionesses next week.

“To add another positive from the game, firstly it was great to have Ruby back in the starting XI but also to come back in and complete 90 minutes – that was brilliant to see and you could see her get back to her very best as the game progressed. We also had Evie back in the squad and although the state of the game wasn’t ideal to introduce back on the pitch, to just have her back amongst everyone was great and it won’t be long till she’s back on the pitch as well."

Speaking after the game, winning goalscorer Bellwood said: “It was a difficult game. They were hard to break down for majority of the game, but we were resilient throughout the 90 minutes and in terms of our performance, I think we deserved the win in the end. I’m just really enjoying it at the minute, in training I always try to give 100 per cent and it’s nice to see that hard work paying off on the pitch, and I’m just happy to help the team. I feel I have been practicing those goals in training and something I have tried to add to my game.”

Match data

Goals: Spurs – Pierre 2, Bellwood 80; Charlton – Harvey 20.

Referee: Peter Kwak.

Venue: Hotspur Way.

Weather: Overcast before sunny spells, 14 degrees.