Tottenham Hotspur Ladies FC -

Under-13s reports 2004-05

Harvesters applied the pressure in the early stages and Spurs had to defend stoutly.  Against the run of play, Sophie Petros broke free down the right to set up Joy Dutch for a goal on her debut.  Just before the break, a strong run from Robyn Downie saw Spurs go 2-0 up.

Harvesters again pushed forward early in the second half and scored from a well taken free kick, then minutes later the score became 2-2 as Harvesters broke through to slide the ball past Ricole Vyse.

Robyn Downie again put Spurs in front before Harvesters again replied to draw the scores level at 3-3. Harvesters then took the lead for the first time when they scored with a spectacular shot from 25 yards, but Spurs were not beaten and again levelled the scores with Sophie Petros finishing from close in after a strong run from Downie.

A much improved Harvesters side, took the lead again with another unstoppable shot to make the score 5-4 and despite a spirited finish Spurs were unable to draw level.

The Spurs 'Player of the Match' was Hannah Mills for her strong performance on her Under 13 debut.

Natalie Richardson opened the scoring with a long range effort after only six minutes.  As play developed into a midfield battle for much of the first half with Hannah Mills and Rebecca Hunneyball in dominating form, it was a while before Spurs went 2-0 up, after the ever lively Robyn Downie slid a goal home after 22 minutes.

In the 47th minute, Leesa Shields struck home a 25 yard free-kick after Mills had been brought down.

Bushey came back again in the last 15 minutes and scored a penalty with 10 minutes to go, but Spurs defended stoutly to hold onto a 3-1 victory.

Bedwell Rangers  2    Queens Park Rangers 1
Charlton Pinnacle Scholars  1    Luton Town Belles  12
Enfield Town Ladies  4    Denham United  1
Harvesters  13    Hoddesdon Owls  0

Bushey Rangers  2    Harvesters  4
Denham United  2    Bedwell Rangers  1
Luton Town Belles  4    Queens Park Rangers  2

The early spoils went to Spurs with an opening goal coming just 87 seconds into the match.  Striker Robyn Downie went down the right wing and pulled the ball across the area, cutting out the keeper, to Natalie Richardson, who stuck the ball away for the opening goal from ten yards out. 

Harvesters hit back straight away with a foray into the Tottenham area, but they were unable to finish the move off.  On six minutes, Spurs broke to the other end and Hannah Mills timed her run to perfection to meet the ball on the edge of the area and rifle it home just inside the post.  Almost immediately the Harvesters keeper reacted well to save a deflected cross into the penalty box, then after ten minutes, Kynarah Hunte forced the keeper to jump to save a high bouncing shot and then a shot from Richardson found the back of the net, although it was ruled out for offside.

At this stage, the game became more competitive in midfield and it took another five minutes before there was a further chance on goal, when the visitors broke away after a long ball, which was struck low into the Spurs net to reduce the lead.  However, two minutes later and the two goal buffer was restored with a fine goal.  Downie intercepted a goal-kick and produced an unselfish square pass to Rebecca Hunneyball, who swept it over the keeper for the third Tottenham goal in the 17th minute.

A good tackle by a Harvesters defender robbed Alex Small of a chance after being put in on the left by Downie and on 24 minutes, the play moved to the other end after the referee had played a very good advantage for Harvesters instead of giving the offside they appealed for.  The counter-attack saw them play a long ball through the middle of the pitch and score with a shot over Ricole Vyse in goal.

The second half was a lot more evenly contested, with fifteen minutes gone before Ryah Vyse played the ball through to Robyn, who hit her shot early but high.  A neat move five minutes later saw Hannah Mills move the ball into Natalie Richardson, who then set up Robyn, but her low drive was well saved.

With 22 minutes of the half gone, another long ball was chased down by the Harvesters centre forward, who rounded the keeper and slotted home the equaliser.  Two minutes after the goal, a shot from the away team hit the post and as Rebecca Hunneyball closed down the angle at the far post, the follow-up shot was struck against the other upright.

It spurred Tottenham into the search for a winner and for the last ten minutes of the game, it was all Spurs.  Three chances came the way of Spurs striker Richardson, but one went narrowly over the top and the other two were struck low and brought the keeper into action on both occasions, testing her handling of the powerful efforts, but Tottenham could not break through and settled for a draw in the end as this side continues their unbeaten run against their opponents.

Bedwell Rangers  0    Bushey Rangers  3
Charlton Pinnacle Scholars  2    Queens Park Rangers 12
Denham United  2    Enfield Town Ladies  0
Hoddesdon Owls  0    Luton Town Belles  12

Enfield Town Ladies  4    Hoddesdon Owls  2
Luton Town Belles  6    Denham United  0
Queens Park Rangers  8    Bedwell Rangers  0

With shouts for offside, Robyn Downie broke through in the eighth minute to hit the outside of the post and six minutes later Spurs keeper Ricole Vyse was called upon to make a double save to keep the Belles at bay. 

Robyn, who was a thorn in the side of the Luton defence all morning, made a great run through the defence in the sixteenth minute, but was denied by a well-timed rush from goal by the goalie, who saved at her feet.  Play switched to the other end and the Luton bench were appealing for a penalty, but the referee waved away their claims.  The game went from end to end and in the 18th minute, Downie again broke free of the Town defence to round the keeper and shoot goalwards, but the ball was just cleared off the line by a chasing defender.

The two Alexs had some involvement at each end of the pitch.  Alex Keown hit a long range shot that brought a low save from the keeper and then in defence, Alex Small made a timely intervention to shepherd a Luton forward away from goal, when she was through.  Once more, Ricole had to be on her toes when Luton broke away and she made a good save to her right to keep the score at 0-0 at the interval.

The second half saw Luton more offensive and a 12 yard curler went just wide and Ricole made a good low, diving stop to deny Luton, but it was only temporarily.  With 20 minutes gone of the second period, a series of shots resulted in a winning goal for the visitors.  Leesa Shields knocked one effort off the line, Ricole saved a shot and the rebound was hit over her into the net for the only goal of the game.

Spurs strove to get back on terms and Natasha Richardson brought a good save from the Luton goalkeeper and although they went forward, Luton just managed to hold on for the win they so dearly wanted.

Despite the score-line, Spurs were made to battle all the way by the Owls who kept going right to the end.

The Spurs goal-scorers were [name removed] (2), Natalie Richardson (2), Robyn Downie, Kynarnah Hunte, Sophie Petros and Hannah Mills.

Bushey Rangers  0    Queens Park Rangers  3      
Enfield Town Ladies  8    Charlton Pinnacle Scholars  0    
Bedwell Rangers  1    Luton Town Belles  2    
Denham United  2    Harvesters  3    

Bushey Rangers  1    Enfield Town Ladies  5      
Queens Park Rangers  3    Harvesters  5     
Denham United  6    Hoddesdon Owls  1     

Harvesters  9    Charlton Pinnacle Scholars  2    
Bedwell Rangers  1    Hoddesdon Owls  2    
Queens Park Rangers  4    Enfield Town Ladies 5      
Luton Town Belles  4    Bushey Rangers  0    

Although Spurs did not perform to their true ability, their determination kept them in the game at 2-3, but QPR broke away to score a fourth right at the death to make the gap between the two teams bigger than the Tottenham team deserved. Robyn Downie bagged both the Spurs goals.

Charlton Pinnacle Scholars  5    Hoddesdon Owls  1    
Bushey Rangers  3    Denham United  0
Harvesters  4    Bedwell Rangers  2    
Enfield Town Ladies  0    Luton Town Belles  4    

A Spurs goal blitz saw them remarkably 4-0 up inside five minutes and 9-0 at the break. 

To their credit Long Lane battled hard throughout, but Spurs were in a truly rampant scoring mode. 

The Spurs goal-scorers were Robyn Downie (2), Hannah Mills (2), Natalie Richardson (2), Kynarah Hunte, Alex Small, Leesa Shields, Sophie Petros and Rebecca Hunneyball.

Hoddesdon Owls  0    Queens Park Rangers  11      
Luton Town Belles  2    Harvesters  1    
Enfield Town Ladies  1    Bedwell Rangers  0    
Charlton Pinnacle Scholars  0    Denham United  4    

In the early exchanges, Bedwell took the game to Spurs and a good save from Ricole Vyse kept the visitors from taking an early lead. In the 25th minute, defender Hoshi Cooper-Hutchinson threaded forward a pass to Robyn Downie to motor through to put Spurs 1-0 up at the break.

Early in the second half, Spurs doubled their advantage when some good play down Spurs left saw the ever improving Alex Small coolly finish pass the Bedwell keeper.  Bedwell pulled a goal back with 15 minutes to go and opportunities were presented at both ends in the closing stages without any further goals.

Hoddesdon Owls  1    Harvesters  10    
Enfield Town Ladies  0     Bushey Rangers  1    
Denham United  1    Queens Park Rangers  5      
Luton Town Belles  7    Charlton Pinnacle Scholars  0    

Spurs started off strongly and were two goals up in the first eight minutes through strikes from Robyn Downie.  Enfield pulled one back in the 18th minute when Spurs failed to clear their lines. 

However, Natalie Richardson restored the two goal cushion when she scored from an acute angle.  Spurs continued to have the majority of possession after the break and Riana Soobadoo put the team 4-1 up after a mazy run through the Enfield defence. 

Hannah Mills was the Spurs player of the match with an excellent performance at the heart of the midfield.

Hoddesdon Owls  1    Denham United  5    
Bushey Rangers  2    Charlton Pinnacle Scholars  2    
Queens Park Rangers  3     Luton Town Belles  3    

Some concentrated play by the visitors prevented Spurs playing their normal passing game and they were limited to a few half-chances in the first period.  Hannah Mills had a good run from left to right across the penalty area, but her shot was hit while running right and it went wide of the goal on that side.  Robyn Downie was the other main threat and she had three efforts.  One, a spectacular overhead kick, went a couple of yards wide, followed by two further attempts which were thwarted by the Bedwell keeper, who had a very sound game in goal.  The last chance saw Robyn take the rebound, but she could not convert it from a narrow angle.

Bedwell began to push forward in the second half and Ricole Vyse was called upon to rush from her goal to take the ball at a forward's feet.  Every time Rangers got through, Hoshi Cooper-Hutchinson seemed to be there to block the shot and when they did get through, they were just unable to hit the target.  In the 11th minute, following a good advantage from the referee, Bedwell got through on the left, but the finish was too high.

Tottenham's approach play was good, but the finishing was matching it on the day.  However, in the 32nd minute, Natalie Richardson slipped a pass through the Bedwell defence for Riana Soobadoo to latch onto it and as she ran into the penalty box, she coolly passed the ball into the net as the goalie rushed out to meet her.

With time running out, Bedwell tried to gain an equaliser, but Tottenham hit them on the break and it was only a fine double save in the six yard box by the keeper that denied Ky Hunte and Rebecca Hunneybell.

Spurs had the dominant share of the possession, but they made heavy weather of the game on a heavy pitch, but will take heart from this win for the coming group League Cup games.

Group A
Charlton Pinnacle Scholars  7    Hoddesdon Owls  1    
Garston Blues  11     St. Albans City Youth  0    

Group B
Hatfield Town   1    Denham United  6    

Group C
Letchworth Garden City Eagles  0    Enfield Town Ladies  12     
Baldock Town  0    Barking Ladies  6

Group D
Harvesters  3    Bushey Rangers  0    
Northwood  3    Stevenage Borough Juniors  2    

Rebecca Hunneyball was the Spurs Player of the Match for her excellence performance at the heart of the Spurs midfield.

Group A
Queens Park Rangers  8     Hoddesdon Owls  0    
St. Albans City Youth  0    Charlton Pinnacle Scholars  11    

Group B
Garston Purples  0    Bedwell Rangers  5

Group C
Luton Town Belles  4    Barking Ladies  0    
Enfield Town Ladies  19     Baldock Town  0   

Group D    
Bushey Rangers  9    Northwood  0    
Princes Park  4    Stevenage Borough Juniors  1    

Group A
Charlton Pinnacle Scholars  -    Queens Park Rangers  -     
Hoddesdon Owls  -    Garston Blues  -    

Group B
Bedwell Rangers  -    Hatfield Town  -

Group C
Baldock Town  -    Luton Town Belles  -    
Barking Ladies  -    Letchworth Garden City Eagles  -

Group D    
Stevenage Borough Juniors  -    Harvesters  -    
Northwood  -    Princes Park  -