Signe Gaupset got us off the mark on the stroke of half-time with her second goal in pre-season and a much-improved second half display saw us find the back of the net on four occasions to ensure an emphatic win over the Women’s Super League 2 side.
Three of those goals came in an eight-minute spell with Shekiera Martinez grabbing her first goal in a Spurs shirt since arriving this summer followed by Eveliina Summanen converting from the penalty spot before Julie Blakstad adding a fourth.
Having been involved in Julie’s goal, young forward Matilda Nilden then rounded off the scoring in the final minute of the game for what was also her first goal for the Club.
“It was a convincing win,” Martin told us, reflecting on the game. “There were parts of the performance, especially in the second half, where I thought we were very good. Out of possession, particularly in parts of the first half, I thought we were good individually. With the ball, though, we were a little wasteful in the first half technically, which isn't something we pride ourselves on in terms of our execution.
“We scored a really good goal with some excellent link-up play. Oli [Holdt] played through to Signe, who made a good break and finished it off. We had some other moments where we just needed to be more decisive and perhaps a little more selfish with our decision-making – knowing when to go ourselves and when to bring others into play.
“The second half was much better. We were more direct in terms of breaking lines and playing through them. Matilda's [Nilden] movement off the right was really, really good and got us into some excellent positions. She had a good impact on the game and I thought we managed the final stages well when it became a little more transitional.
When asked about the five goals scored, he added: “We scored some really good goals and played some good attacking football. There were some good individual performances throughout. As a coach, that's really pleasing because, as I've said to the players, we have a good enough squad with depth in it that we can really compete.”
“We want to make sure that, moving forward, whoever starts the game or comes into it can have an impact. If you look at the last two games of pre-season, the players who have come on to finish the games have played really well and made an impact. That's the important thing for me as a coach.”