Tottenham Hotspur Women dismantled WSL2 side Bristol City in the Players Cup thanks to a Shekiera Martinez hattrick. The comprehensive win takes us to 6th place in the Subway Players’ cup table.
Martin Ho sent out a largely rotated side. Most notably, Hanna Wijk came into the side for a rare start. Side note, but it was also nice to see our former academy player (and known Spurs fan) Esther Morgan starting for Bristol City. I’ll always have a soft spot for her.
In the opening stages, the side looked, well, very much like a side who’d lost three consecutive league games. We looked in danger of succumbing to Bristol City’s high press and totally unable to string anything together. But then Amanda Nildén remembered who she was and dribbled through half of Bristol City’s team before playing a pass over the top to release Shekiera Martinez. Shekiera offered up a lovely chipped finish, and that was it – we were on the sheet.
From there, Bristol fell apart. Their defense made the fatal error of leaving Olivia Holdt open in the middle of the box, and it was easy for Kirsty Hanson to find her on the cross. A nice team move resulted in Shekiera Martinez’s second goal – another tap-in from dead range. For some variety, Signe Gaupest scored our fourth on a smart long range shot after Bristol tried to play out from the back. Spurs’ concentration momentarily lapsed after that, and a miscontrol by Hanna Wijk in the box ultimately led to Bristol grabbing one back. But let’s be serious, I’m not really going to complain about going to complain going into halftime 4-1.
With such a comfortable cushion, Martin Ho made a triple change. Drew Spence, Lenna Gunning-Williams and Julie Blakstad replaced Signe Gaupset, Kirsty Hanson and Caitlin Dijkstra, which meant that Hanna Wijk shifted to centerback. Matilda Nildén scored her first goal shortly after, set up by a nice pass from Olivia Holdt, and Shekiera Martinez finished her hattrick on a great cross from Lenna Gunning-Williams to make it 6-1.
Jess Naz also got her first minutes since her ACL injury last November, and Matilda Vinberg also entered the fray to give Olivia Holdt a rest. These changes meant that we ended the game with a back four of *checks notes* Julie Blakstad, Amanda Nildén, Hanna Wijk and Jess Naz. You could conceivably play any of these players as wingers, but we didn’t concede again, so sure, OK.
Thoughts
Look, I really don’t have too much to say about this game. Bristol City are fourth in the WSL2 and although they look to be well coached, they’re simply not very good. The first ten minutes were a little spooky because Spurs looked totally devoid of confidence and Bristol were flying high, but then the players seemed to remember they knew how to play, and it all followed on from there. At times, our players looked like they found it so easy to score that they hardly celebrated. And fair enough, not many WSL teams are going to leave players totally unmarked in the middle of their box.
That said, it was great to see players who have had a few rough performances gain some confidence, albeit against a lower level side. We need practice against very pressy sides, and we certainly got that. Shekiera Martinez needs to be a legitimate alternative to Tinka Tandberg (who, sidenote, I wish could have gotten some more confidence-building minutes), Jess Naz needs to work her way back to full fitness, and Ella Morris and Hanna Wijk need to prove themselves able to rotate in with Caitlin Dijkstra and Julie Blakstad, who haven’t exactly done a comprehensive job playing as fullbacks recently.
All in all, it was a pretty fun watch, and we did what needed to be done in the cup without anyone getting seriously injured. Next up, we’ve got Birmingham City. They’re definitely going to be a bit of a respite from the top of the table talent we’ve been facing. But Birmingham City do have the excellent Océane Hurtré, who’s shown she can score at pretty much any time. Ideally, though, we’ll be able to keep momentum going and continue to build back our confidence.