Previously… away to Reading

The game took place behind-closed-doors on 18 April, 2021, but Spurs put on a show in the fourth round of the competition.

Fara Williams gave the Royals an early lead when she latched onto Becky Spencer’s clearance and looped the ball over our keeper and into the beck of the net.

But we responded less than 10 minutes later, Alanna Kennedy bending a free-kick over the wall and past Grace Moloney to equalise.

At the start of the second half, Rachel Williams dispossessed Fara in the 18-yard box and curled the ball beautifully into the top left corner on her left foot for her first Spurs goal.

But Reading equalised straight away, Rachel Rowe driving into the penalty area and picking out the bottom right corner. The game remained level until the 90th minute and it would take extra-time to separate the sides.

Ashleigh Neville, on as a substitute following a spell injured on the sidelines, poked the ball through for Jessica Naz to run onto, and she tucked it beyond Moloney into the bottom left corner for 3-2.

Reading line-up: Moloney, Bartrip, Cooper, Woodham, Roberts, Rowe, Harding (Leine 85’), James, Williams, Carter (Eikeland 70’), Harries. Substitutes not used: Nayler, Childerhouse, Jeon, Flores.

Spurs line-up: Spencer, Williams, Dean (Addison 71’), Kennedy, Cho, Harrop (Green 103’), Morgan (Neville 91’), Naz (Worm 103’), Zadorsky, McManus, Graham. Substitutes not used: Mikelsen, Godfrey, Davison.

Williams was buzzing after the game, unable to stop smiling in her Spurs TV interview after scoring her first goal for the club in her favourite competition.

“I need five minutes just to think it all over! It’s about time I scored! This one’s gone in with my left foot. Hit and hope! It’s a good goal and I’m glad that I got the girls 2-1 up. The FA Cup is my favourite competition. I won it with Birmingham City in 2012 so for me this was a massive game.

“The desire and fight that you saw today to come back, when we’re on our game and we stick together like that, this team is capable of anything and that’s what we need to remember.”

Head Coach Rehanne Skinner was equally delighted, saying her team delivered everything she had asked of them on the day.

“We had some great opportunities in the game and I think we probably should’ve done a little bit better in normal time to be honest, in terms of goals, but credit to Reading who came back at us after we scored again,” she said. 

“We had to work harder again to try to get the result out of the game, but I couldn’t be prouder of the way the girls have gone about the game. We’ve come back and fought really hard and put bodies on the line. They’ve done everything I’ve asked today, so I’m really pleased with the result. 

“Rach and I have got a bit of history, so it’s always nice to see her getting on the scoresheet. She has such an important impact on the squad and gives us something different to work with. Every single one of the players today left everything out on the pitch. 

“The good thing about the game is it’s not always the pretty stuff that gets you through. There were periods in the game where we had to do the nitty gritty and that’s the other thing that I want the fans to be able to see, that we’re prepared to dig in and we’ve played a couple of games where we’ve been too tentative, we all know that, but this is the type of Spurs team that we want to be moving forward and I hope that was a positive for the fans to see. 

“When you get into extra-time, it’s mental toughness. You’ve got to be able to grind it out, stay disciplined, concentrate and play with some quality even under quite a lot of fatigue. It does become a mental challenge. 

“To show that we can do that side of things and get to that point where we do dominate the game and then be relaxed and composed when we’ve got ourselves in front is really important. There’s massive positives to take from that for the remaining three games in the league season.”