A new season is a new beginning, and one that Tottenham Hotspur Women desperately needed. After a horrific 2024-25 campaign in which Spurs limped to an 11th place finish under Robert Vilahamn, now Spurs Women have a new manager in Robert Ho, two new players in Toko Kota and Tinka Tandberg, and now a league win. Spurs defeated West Ham 1-0 at Brisbane Road thanks to a late penalty from Bethany England and also kept a clean sheet in the process.
It wasn’t a perfect performance — Spurs were good defensively
and frequently pressed high to disrupt the Hammers, but once again had a difficult time linking the midfield to attack. England may have slotted home the penalty after Eveliina Summanen was brought down in the box midway through the second half, but she found herself quite isolated in attack, something that Spurs fans should be used to.
That said — a win’s a win, and that was often more than we could’ve hoped for last season. I still have big questions about this Spurs side, but I can’t argue with the result.
Here are my match reactions from today’s win.
Reactions
- You really can see a difference in how Spurs play under Martin Ho — they came out pressing high, trying to disrupt West Ham. keep them from extended spells of possession, and capitalize on mistakes in the opposition third.
- Spurs started with a back line of Rybrink – Koga – Hunt with Molly Bartrip missing a late fitness test and they looked well drilled, cutting out a number of West Ham attacks before they could turn into big chances. I wonder if the back three was chosen due to the injury to Ash Neville, who was not in the side today.
- Was quite impressed with 19-year-old Toko Koga. She looked very composed in defense, had a couple of key blocks, and also did a good job of building out from the back. Think Spurs might have a real talent on their hands here.
- No goals in the first half, but Spurs definitely looked the better side, flashing a couple of shots wide and getting into dangerous positions. That said, the best chance of the half came from West Ham — Viviene Asseyi nearly had an Olympico from the corner and came very close to scrambling in a rebound effort before Spurs could hack it away.
- Olivia Holdt had an incredible turn late in the first half to open up an attack and that resulted in a Jessica Naz shot that she blazed over the bar. That turn, though, made me sit up and say HOLY CRAP!
- Tottenham already look more composed in attack than last season, but they still had difficulty getting the ball to Beth England, who frequently dropped deep to facilitate others in the “Harry Kane role.”
- Kit Graham came on as a sub for Olivia Holdt, her first appearance in more than a year after she picked up a knee injury and missed the whole of last season. She got a HUGE ovation as she came on, she’s a real fan favorite.
- Araya Dennis also made her first WSL start, and was eventually subbed off for new signing Tinka Tandberg. Dennis wasn’t hugely impactful but did have a few nice dribbles in West Ham’s defensive third and didn’t look out of place. Promising shift.
- Tandberg is a physical player and this might get her in trouble. She picked up a pretty cheap early yellow and was whistled for another hard challenge just a few minutes later.
- The big problem Spurs had last season was scoring goals and based on this game it’s still a point of concern. Tottenham only had a few decent opportunities on West Ham’s goal, and Spurs weren’t able to get the ball to England and Tandberg very often for clear-cut shots.
- The penalty on Summanen was clear cut – she was clearly tripped – and of course Beth England nailed it from the spot. Great goal.
- The win is Spurs’ first in a competitive match since last January, and boy does it feel good to get that monkey off the team’s back.
- Spurs’ next match is next Sunday away against Everton at Goodison Park. Should be a great atmosphere.
