Tottenham Hotspur Ladies FC -

Under-13s reports 2004-05

The Under 13's reached their seconnd Cup Final of the season with a hard fought victory 2-1 over Harvesters in the HGFL.

Spurs were on the back foot in the early stages and fell behind to a well taken Harvesters goal in the 15th minute.  However, Spurs started to edge back into the game before the break with Leesa Shields hitting the bar.

Spurs started the 2nd half in the ascendancy and it Leesa Shields who struck a tremendous 25 yard free kick home in the 45th minute to level the scores.  

Spurs continued to have opportunities before a solo run and 20 yard strike from Hannah Mills put Spurs ahead. Harvesters rallied again in the later stages but the Spurs defence held strong.  

Spurs now meet Luton Town Belles in the final on May 22nd.

Glenn Weaver

Queens Park Rangers  1     Luton Town Belles  5    

The Under 13's fifteen competitive match unbeaten run came to an end on Sunday as Luton Town Belles claimed the league title with a 3-1.

Spurs start brightly and forced a series of corners in the opening 10 minutes. However, Luton started to come in the game and opened the scoring in the 17th minute when Spurs failed to clear their lines.

Luton finished the first and started the second half with a determined attitude to win the ball first. Spurs went 2-0 down when Luton headed home from a corner on their right hand side.

Spurs rallied late on a Robyn Downie headed home with minutes left to give Spurs a chance. However, pushing for an equaliser Spurs were caught on the break with moments left. 

The two teams meet again in the League Cup Final on 22nd May 2005.

Glenn Weaver

Bushey Rangers  5    Hoddesdon Owls  6    
Charlton Pinnacle Scholars  1    Harvesters  4    
Enfield Town Ladies  5     Queens Park Rangers  1   

The Under 13's slipped to a 2-1 defeat to local rivals Enfield Town Ladies in the HGFL on Sunday.

In the early stages, the game was an end to end encounter with Spurs going close on several occasions, whilst Ricole Vyse was called on to make two excellent saves.  Spurs took the lead just before the break when Robyn Downie powered through to finish strongly against the advancing Enfield keeper.

Spurs went into the second half without influential midfielders Riana Soobadoo and Hannah Mills and for much of the half, Spurs put up a rear guard action and Enfield drew level with 15 minutes to go.  Then, with minutes left on the clock, Spurs allowed Enfield to burst through the middle to take a 2-1 victory.

Glenn Weaver

Queens Park Rangers  10     Bushey Rangers  0    

Spurs eased to a win in their penultimate League match against a Charlton Pinnacle Scholars side that put in a spirited performance.

The two sides sized each other up in the opening stages, but Spurs went ahead in the 13th minute, when Leesa Shields struck a powerful 35 yard free-kick that flew high over the keeper and into the net.  Spurs were in the ascendancy and Brie Moule in the Spurs goal, only had a couple of through balls to field.

Natalie Richardson worked herself some space in the penalty area and fired in a shot that went inches wide of the post in the 17th minute, then Robyn Downie brought a low save from the keeper when she broke through to hit a shot on goal.  Tottenham had the confidence to their luck from long range and Alex Keown hit a 25 yard effort that was saved and Alex Small hit one from 18 yards as she made a run down the left, which again tested the keeper.  Leesa hit a long shot just a couple of feet wide of the mark and Stavroulla Panayiotou laid a pass into the path of Alex Keown, who struck a rising shot over the bar.

Just before the break, Ky Hunte's snapshot brought a save from the Scholars keeper at the foot of her right hand post to keep the gap to a single goal at the interval.

The second half was similar to the first, with Spurs making the first attacking intent.  Natalie hit a shot across goal from the right side of the area and then when Robyn broke through the centre of the Charlton defence, her shot brought a dive out of the visiting keeper to stop the effort.  14 minutes into second period, Robyn had better luck, as she nodded home a precise right wing cross from Leesa Shields to make it 2-0.

Only the Charlton keeper prevented a greater margin of victory with saves from Natalie, Leesa and Alex Small, after a great run up the left wing, while the Spurs defence featuring the Player of the Match Joy Dutch put in some excellent work and some crucial tackles.

Harvesters  -    Bushey Rangers  -    (Harvesters awarded win, as Bushey withdrew from the league)

Spurs awarded the win, as Bushey withdrew from the league.

Charlton Pinnacle Scholars  -    Bedwell Rangers  -     
Hoddesdon Owls  -    Enfield Town Ladies  -     

After extra time; full time score 2-2

Herts. Girl's Football League Cup Final

An early goal in extra time saw Luton nick the League Cup in this closely fought game, where Spurs pulled back a goal deficit on two occasions, but just failed to manage it a third time.

Lining up with a new formation, Spurs saw Luton fail to find their form on a small and bumpy pitch.  The midfield battling by Tottenham allowed their forwards to push up on the Belles defence and find space wide when pushing forward from the midfield area.  Crosses into the area were causing Luton problems and a 12 yard header from Rebecca Hunneyball was saved by the keeper.  Luton's first threat on the Tottenham goal came from a corner, when Ricole Vyse made a very good double save to keep them out, but Spurs hit back straight away with Sophie Petros and Robyn Downie making ground down the right wing to create a shot that was blocked for a corner.

The right wing was an area that Spurs exploited and a Hannah Mills cross was headed just wide by Robyn and then another Hannah effort from that flank floated over the keeper and fortunately for the Belles bounced away off the far post.  The defence had to be on their toes and Stavroulla Panayiotou produced a vital intervention to stop Luton getting a close range shot on goal near the post.  Hannah's forays down the wing were the main threat and one ball in was just if front of Robyn and then Mills' shot went narrowly wide.

Slightly against the run of play Luton took the lead in the 32nd minute.  A long ball through the middle caught the Spurs defence on the turn and the ball was lobbed over the advancing Ricole.  It was a blow for Tottenham, who had been the more potent attacking force, but right on the stroke of half-time, Robyn Downie latched onto a through ball, went around the keeper and hit a shot on goal that was blocked by a Luton defender's arm.  The linesman was alert to the offence and signalled a penalty.  Captain Ryah Vyse accepted the responsibility and struck her penalty into the net, leaving the keeper rooted to the spot.

Going into the half-time interval, Spurs were buoyed by the equaliser, but a Luton corner, just seven minutes into the half, saw a header end up in the Tottenham net.  Undeterred, the Spurs side pressed on and a late, heavy tackle on Hannah saw the Luton defender merely given a talking to by the referee.  Millsy needed some treatment after the challenge, but got up to play on and from the resulting free-kick, Leesa swung over a great cross that invited Robyn's header low into the goal to make it 2-2 with a quarter of an hour of the second half gone.

Spurs were keen to add to their score and Leesa hit a long range effort a yard wide in the 21st minute of the half and a minute later, Robyn tried a shot from the centre circle and the ball looped over the keeper, but bounced over off the top of the crossbar.  Hannah had a 25 yard shot saved and with five minutes left, Ricole kept Spurs in it with a very good save from a shot from ten yards out.  As time was running out, a long corner was laid back by Ky Hunte to Mills and Hannah's shot was just over the bar, while Robyn also drove a shot too high and Luton had a chance at the death but hit it high over the top.

So, the game moved into extra time and it was just a minute into the first period that a free-kick was played into the Tottenham penalty area and as the ball bobbled about, it was shot into the net from close range to give Luton the lead for the third time.  Into the second half, Luton shouted for a handball against Alexandra Keown, but the play was waved on.  The game was now finely balanced and the ball moved from end to end, with Ricole pulling off an excellent reflex save to push a fierce shot wide and then in the last minute, a right wing cross was marginally too far ahead of Robyn as she flew in for the header.

The final whistle saw Luton celebrate, but the Spurs team had done themselves proud and played some very good football in difficult conditions.

Bedwell Rangers  -     Enfield Ladies  -     

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