View: The goals dry up for Tottenham Women in draw v Everton Women
It was a frustrating afternoon for October’s WSL Player of the Month Martha Thomas, who failed to convert her chances as Tottenham Women were held to a 1-1 draw at home with Everton Women on Sunday 5 November.
For the first time in her short Spurs career so far, Thomas failed to find the back of the net, bringing her incredible goalscoring run, which has propelled her to the top of the WSL scoring charts this season, to an end.
It wasn’t for a lack of trying either. As per Sofascore, the Scotland international had four shots on target and one more shot off target, with a big chance missed among those opportunities.
This seemed to be a trend for the entire Spurs team on Sunday, who had 11 shots on target in total compared to Everton’s two, yet only managed to score the one during a draw which will certainly be viewed as two points dropped, rather than one point gained.
On a bright note for Robert Vilahamn, Manchester United loanee Grace Clinton continued her bright form with a goal and overall strong display.
Only Everton shot-stopper Courtney Brosnan, who was in inspired form and made seven saves from inside the box, boasted a better player rating (9.5) than Clinton (9.1).
In addition to her goal which opened the scoring in the 43rd minute, the 20-year-old completed seven of the eight dribbles she attempted, 84 per cent of her passes, with two of those being key, and played five out of five accurate long balls forward.
Defensively she was also superb, winning her one aerial duel, 17 of her 24 ground duels and making two interceptions as well as eight tackles.
However, despite a strong display, in the end, Clinton will be frustrated with herself as she was the one to give away a late penalty which led to Everton’s equaliser.
It was a perfect example of what happens when you don’t take your chances, and Vilahamn can use the result as a lesson and reminder to his players of the importance of being clinical in the final third.
Nonetheless, it is by no means a result which should cause alarm. The performance was still positive and represents a complete contrast to last season’s form, and despite throwing it away late on, Tottenham remain unbeaten in four WSL games since the opening day of the season, and third in the division.
That is not something many fans would have expected when the season began.
In other Tottenham news, John Wenham believes the club must now do everything they can to get rid of one unwanted player in the men’s first team.