Spurs Women 2 – 1 Aston Villa: Holdt and England stage last minute comeback

Tottenham Hotspur Women defeated Aston Villa 2 – 1 thanks to a stoppage time stunner from Olivia Holdt, though the come-from-behind victory was marred by an ACL injury to Jess Naz. Spurs now sit fifth in the table with equal points to Arsenal, but a significantly worse goal difference.

Martin Ho found himself without Charli Grant, Tinka Tandberg and Olga Ahtinen after all three picked up injuries on international break, and Tōko Koga was apparently ill (though well enough to make the bench). As such, the lineup was about what you’d expect:

In the opening stages of the game, Spurs struggled to break out of their own defensive third, although Lize Kop and the defense dealt with everything in the end. The best chance of the half came about halfway through when Olivia Holdt played a stunning through ball to Jess Naz, who unfortunately put the ball wide.

Spurs emerged from half-time full of energy and snappy passing, but (as usual) were unable to turn that dominance into goals. In the 65th minute, everything broke wide open. Villa’s Océane Deslandes received a second yellow for a late challenge on Olivia Holdt. Shortly after, Jess Naz went down under no contact while she was chasing a ball on the wing. The club has now confirmed she tore her ACL and will require surgery.

This is where it started to get a little spicy. Martha Thomas replaced Jess Naz, and a few minutes later Araya Dennis replaced Ash Neville. Ten-player Villa gained some control of the game and found the back of the net first. Rachel Maltby played a ball over the top to Kirsty Hanson, who zipped around Molly Bartrip and shot past Lize Kop. Spurs responded instantly – literally thirty seconds seconds after the restart – when Amanda Nildén put in a pinpoint cross and Beth England nodded it in. 

Olivia Holdt grabbed what proved to be the match winner in the sixth minute of stoppage time. Lenna Gunning-Williams (who subbed on just before our first goal) did really well to keep the ball alive under pressure at the corner flag and find Drew Spence in the center. Drew spotted Olivia’s tricky run on goal and sent a trademark no-look pass her way. Olivia shot hard at the near post and Villa’s keeper didn’t even really get close. The celebrations were so raucous that poor Olivia needed help from her teammates in getting rid of a calf cramp afterward. Much to my relief, Olivia was more than able to carry on for the last two minutes to see out the win.

Thoughts

I already wrote an entire article about the devastating injury to Jess. I’d like to say a bit more here about how she was having a really good game up until that point. She was linking up well with Olivia Holdt and Ash Neville, and she looked likely to make something happen before the end of the game. If she hadn’t scuffed that one shot, she would’ve made it happen in the first half. Here’s hoping she’s able to recover well and get back to her best. 

For me, Olivia Holdt was the best player on the pitch and has been for at least five games now. I joked on the N17 Women Podcast that Olivia is the best player in the world, but I’m not so sure it’s a joke anymore. Seriously, if you’re not a regular watcher, you have to promise me you’re going to turn on the next game and watch her. She’s so good. I will say that she sometimes takes 10-15 minutes to find her legs in a game. Against Villa in particular, I remember watching her dribble someone at around the 11th minute and thinking, “Oh, someone finally woke up Olivia” and then she was absolute fire for the rest of the game.

Also of note – this was Molly Bartrip’s first start of the season due to Tōko Koga’s illness. I thought she had a mostly solid game. She had some strong moments, particularly on the ball, but she occasionally looked rusty in defense. A few of Villa’s chances in the first half seemed to come when their attackers drew Molly off her line (and Ash for added cover), and Kristy Hanson left her in the dust to score that goal. To be fair to Molly, she and the defense did enough to keep Villa quiet in the first half, and in the second, well Kristy Hanson is very fast and I’m not totally sure Tōko Koga would’ve done any better. Molly also had some instrumental blocks and challenges in closing out the game. It’s tough – if Molly were getting the minutes, I have faith she’d grow into Martin’s system. But when Tōko Koga is available for selection, is Molly going to get the minutes? Probably not. 

Finally, a word of praise for the sheer style and grit of this win. Coming back from 1-0 down after watching your teammate get stretchered off is impressive, and I don’t think it’s something Spurs of previous years could’ve done. Beth England and Drew Spence – two players I don’t typically think of as being able to go a full 90 anymore – showed unbelievable mentality here. I also thought Lenna Gunning-Williams did super well for the winning goal. I’ve found most of her appearances this season pretty quiet, but not today. I simply love to see it and I hope we get to see the same grit and determination during our (checks notes) two upcoming games against Manchester United. 

Looking Ahead

Folks I’ll be honest with you, I’m really not looking forward to facing Manchester United twice. They’re also both away games, which will be a real pain for matchgoing fans. United always manage to cause us pain, whether it’s defeating us 4-0 in a cup final or unfairly rallying the FA to get Eveliina Summanen banned for two matches for “successful deception of a match official”. 

That said, we are only one point behind United in the table, and I think we can walk away from something with these games even though our squad isn’t at full strength. I believe in Martin Ho (who, in case you missed it, is their former assistant manager), and after this game, I believe in the players, too.