Bristol City 2-2 Tottenham Women: Spurs concede late equalizer, still winless in WSL

Tottenham Hotspur Women traveled to Bristol City today, hoping that a match against the team bottom of the table in the WSL would earn them their first league win of the season. It was not to be. Despite going up 2-1 in the second half thanks to goals from Siri Worm and Ashleigh Neville, Spurs’ Rianna Dean was sent off for a challenge on keeper Chloe Baggaley, Bristol City scored a 92nd minute equalizer from Ebony Salmon, and Spurs limped home with a 2-2 draw.

The big pre-match story was, again, Alex Morgan, who made her first start for Tottenham Hotspur after coming off the bench last weekend against Reading. She only lasted 45 minutes, as she was subbed off at halftime for Rianna Dean.

Key Moments

First Half

7’ — a pretty cruddy pitch here at Bristol City. It’s wet and November, but this looks like a mid-season non-league cow field pitch.

8’ — Angela Addison with the first shot on target for Spurs — she had Leon at the back post but her shot instead is collected by Baggaley.

12’ — Morgan fires a nice lofted cross to the back post. An inviting ball, but no Spurs players were anywhere near it to punch it home.

25’ — Bristol is sitting deep with a back five and trying to blow everything up, and it’s working — Spurs look more confident looking forward but having a hard time picking apart the defense.

35’ — Oh no, penalty to Bristol City. Ebony Salmon has a nice backheel pass into the box, and Siri Worm makes a really silly challenge to take down a Bristol player. Chloe Logarzo steps up and converts the spot kick, and Bristol take the lead, 1-0.

37’ — Bristol nearly double their lead; a shot from the top of the box is deflected and thankfully goes wide, but Becky Spencer was wrong-footed.

42’ — GOAL TOTTENHAM! Siri Worm from a free kick! Angela Addison earned the free kick on the right edge of the box, and Worm’s free kick towards the back posts curls over everyone and in the net! Fantastic free kick from a wild angle!

Halftime — Worm’s goal cancels out her mistake in committing the penalty, and Spurs will take a 1-1 draw into the break.

Second Half

Halftime sub for Spurs — Rianna Dean is on for Morgan.

50’ — Corner after corner after corner for Spurs early in the half. Four of them in the first five minutes. None of them lead to chances, though.

59’ — On the sixth corner to Spurs, Lucia Leon gets a free header, but puts it over the bar.

63’ — GOAL TOTTENHAM! ASHLEIGH NEVILLE! Just like before, Angela Addison won the free kick, Siri Worm put the ball in, and like last week against Reading Neville was there to head the ball past the keeper. 1-2 to the Tottenham!

73’ — Scary moment as Hannah Godfrey makes a defensive mistake and gives Bristol City’s Bissell a real chance to equalize. Hannah recovered enough to block one attempt and Becky Spencer kept out the other one. Scary, though.

74’ — Ouch. Rianna Dean and keeper Sophie Baggaley collide in the box as both were going for the ball. Baggaley got it first, but both players were down and received lengthy treatment. And then Dean is shown a red card! Spurs are down to ten women.

80’ — Yellow on goal-scorer Neville for a super late (and pretty bad) sliding challenge by the sideline. Deserved one, that.

83’ — HOW? HOW? HOW? Free kick from Worm hits the underside of the goal and looks like it goes in but there’s no goal line tech and the official doesn’t give it? HUGE call.

87’ — Scramble in front of Spurs’ goal, but Salmon ends up with a shot over the bar.

90+ — Seven minutes of extra time to be played. That seems low.

91’ — Goal to Bristol City, Ebony Salmon. Spurs looked like they stopped play like they were anticipating a call that never came. Salmon got on the end of a long ball behind the defense and put it past Spencer. Real bad.

93’ — A real chance for Kennedy from another set piece from Siri Worm, but she puts her header wide of the post. Drat.

97’ — FULL TIME. A disappointing draw at Bristol City sees Spurs still without a win in the WSL this season.

Reactions

• Siri Worm giveth and Siri Worm taketh away. Her tackle in the box, which was pretty silly, led to Bristol City’s penalty kick, but her inswinging free kick from the right brought the score level again in the first half. Even so, Worm’s influence was huge on this game — she set up Spurs’ other goal, had an assist, set up a couple other big chances, and had some pretty nifty corners as well. If there’s a Player of the Match, it’s probably her.
• This match was defined by two Spurs mistakes: Worm’s penalty, and the late challenge on the keeper by Rianna Dean that got her sent off (and hurt). I actually missed the red card (and so did the announcers) and didn’t find out about it until after play had resumed.
• This is a match that I expected Spurs to dominate, and they absolutely didn’t. Unfortunately, this draw against the clear worst team in the division may tell us more about this Tottenham Women team than the hard-fought losses to superior opposition did earlier in the season.
• What’s the point of having Alex Morgan on your team if you can’t get her the ball? She was absolutely starved for service, though it’s fair to point out that Bristol City were sitting super deep in the first half, probably because of her presence.
• Spurs had quite a bit of success playing through Angela Addison on the left side of the pitch. Both of Spurs’ goals started after Addison earned free kicks right around the area. She needs more end product but she has plenty of industry.
• This could be a long season for Spurs, much longer than I had anticipated at the start of the year.