Tottenham Hotspur Women played out a meaningless 2-2 draw with West Ham to put a cap on an underwhelming season. As usual, Beth England’s brilliance was on display alongside the shoddiness of Spurs’ defense.
Vicky Jepson stuck with her usual 4-3-3 formation (those are her words, btw) but made two changes in personnel. Becky Spencer retained her position in the net, but Asmita Ale came in for Kerys Harrop in the back line. Elsewhere, Kit Graham replaced Eveliina Summanen in the 10 role.
Spurs struck first in the 20th minute. The team worked the ball wide on a free kick, and Rosella Ayane put in a pinpoint cross to Beth England’s forehead. Jepson spoke in a recent press conference of the work Spurs’ goalkeeping coach does with the team on set pieces—it’s fair to say it’s paying off (at least, you know, in attack).
West Ham’s season has been characterized by absurd good luck as much as ours has been characterized by tough bounces and bad mistakes. Unfortunately, those trends continued throughout the final game. West Ham pulled one back after Celin Bizet dallied on the ball too long in her own box. Emma Snerle had the final shot, a bullet that Becky Spencer had no chance of stopping. West Ham added a second shortly before halftime with a heartbreaking own goal from Kit Graham.
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Jepson made two halftime changes—Eveliina Summanen and Kerys Harrop coming on for Angharad James and Asmita Ale. Shortly after, Rosella and Beth combined for an equalizer. Beth ends the season with 12 goals in 12 games, and nearly everyone wondering what more she has to do for Sarina Wiegman to put her on the plane to the World Cup. Meanwhile, Rosella ends the season, somewhat surprisingly given her long stretches of questionable form, as Spurs’ leading assister.
The draw means Spurs finish 9th in the WSL, which is about 4 spots lower than many of us would’ve liked to see. It could’ve been much worse. Spurs only secured safety last week with a surprisingly comfortable 4-1 win over Reading. If the team is to continue on an upward trajectory, those in charge will need to open their wallets wide (let’s be honest, wide is relative here) over the summer.
