| The wind and the
woodwork prevented the Under-14s getting their League Cup campaign off
to a winning start.
A good start to the game saw Tottenham
take the lead after just six minutes, when Renee Johnson-Allen returned
a cleared free-kick past the keeper with a fine drive. Denham came
back with a couple of opportunities, but failed to convert them as the
Spurs defence stood firm.
In the 18th minute a right wing corner
was headed onto the crossbar by Bonnie Cullinan and the ball fell
invitingly for Lillie Chapman, but in trying to force the ball home as
it came to her quickly, her knee took the ball back against the bar and
away.
Renee hit another shot from distance that
the keeper held well, shortly after she had to be spoken to by the
referee for confronting Cullinan after a free kick had been awarded for
the ball being kicked out of her hands. Abi Hutchinson-McKay made
a block in her own penalty area to stop a scramble developing into
anything more, while Rochelle Alexandra was reading the Denham play well
to intercept their balls into the danger areas.
Four minutes before the interval, a ball
in from the right found a Denham player just five yards out and her
drive beat Becky Williams save to tie the scores. Shortly after
the start of the second half, Denham took the lead. A
wind-assisted ball through the middle of the Tottenham back four ended
with a shot past Becky although she again got a hand to it.
Spurs faced a lot of pressure as they
battled against a strengthening wind, but in the tenth minute of the
half, a break on the right wing by Jessica Richards produced a low ball
into the six yard box, which the keeper could not hold and Jodie Smith
was on the spot to tap the ball over the line to make it 2-2.
As the half went on, the play switched
from end to end and it was Denham who got the next break, when the ball
broke to one of their players and a low shot beat Williams to give
Denham the lead again. But Tottenham were not finished, as,
straight from the kick off, they went up the other end and Bonnie
Cullinan hit the bar with a shot from outside the area.
Unfortunately, it summed up the side's luck on the day and the visitors
took the few chances their pressure produced, while Tottenham were left
to reflect on the chances that went begging.
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