Martin Ho said he got ‘the response he wanted’ as we put in a determined display to secure a point against Arsenal in the Barclays Women’s Super League on Sunday.
Having suffered defeat at London City Lionesses last weekend, our Head Coach wanted a big reaction in our performance in the north London derby - and he got exactly that in front of a record-breaking crowd at Brisbane Road as we played out a goalless draw with our local rivals.
We were disciplined defensively to limit the Gunners to very few opportunities, especially weathering a spell midway through the second half to keep them at bay, while we looked confident on the ball in the first period but ultimately failed to test Daphne van Domselaar on many occasions.
All told, it was a hard-fought but well deserved point at home – our first goalless draw in the WSL in 81 matches – and maintains our positive start to the campaign as we currently sit fifth in the standings with 18 points.
“A good response from the London City game,” Martin told us, speaking to SPURSPLAY after the game. “From a defensive perspective, I thought we showed more of what we're about - how we want to defend and how we should defend, and our behaviours were correct in a lot of moments.
“I thought the second half changed a little bit, so it made us defend more. They pushed higher and were a bit more direct at times, so we had to do that work. But, in the first half, our defensive organisation was good, we broke their pressure well and we had some moments [in front of goal]. In games like this, you hope one of those chances goes in because you don’t get many against the top teams.
“When you play these teams, you always want to come into the game to compete and to try and win - not just survive. Hopefully we showed that throughout the game. We had moments, and Lize [Kop] made some big saves for the back line while the midfield and the defence made some huge blocks. We asked for a big performance, and we got it. Overall, though, the players worked extremely hard. I asked for a response and I got that.”
As mentioned above, it was a record-breaking afternoon as we recorded our highest WSL attendance at Brisbane Road with 6,788 – and Martin was full of praise for the atmosphere produced in the north London derby.
“They were unbelievable. If I’m shouting and the players still can’t hear me, then it’s loud — and I’m shouting a lot from the side of the pitch!
‘We can’t ask any more from them. I said to the players, ‘if we want more moments like this, if we want more fans consistently attending, then we have to perform like we did today’. Fans aren’t asking for perfection - they’re asking for effort, commitment, passion and desire when you put that badge on.
“We showed that in large parts today. If we want to grow this fanbase and this team, and be followed across the UK, then these performances have to be consistent.”
