Josie Green scored a memorable winning goal as Spurs Ladies came from behind to defeat London Bees 2-1 in the opening game of the FA Women's Championship at Cheshunt FC, writes Rosie Bonass.
The visitors took the lead in the first half through Paula Howells but a fighting second half display from the Lilywhites resulted in a penalty converted by Coral-Jade Haines and a 25-yard thunderbolt from Green to give Spurs a winning start in the new league.
Karen Hills made two changes to the team that started against Brighton & Hove Albion in the Continental Tyres Cup as Chloe Morgan regained her position in goal and Haines returned to the midfield for this London derby.
The first half presented very few clear cut opportunities but it was the away team who started the strongest as Morgan was tested twice in the opening stages with efforts from Howells and Ellie Wilson.
Ashleigh Neville looked a serious threat from set pieces and she came close on two occasions in the space of a couple of minutes. The first was a header into the near post from a corner that was cleared off the line by Annabel Johnson and her second attempt, another header that went inches wide.
London Bees were one up after 22 minutes when a corner kick delivered by Howells found its way into the far corner to the home side’s frustration.
Spurs started to settle into the game towards the end of the first half and Sophie Mclean came close to scoring just before the break after she did brilliantly to prevent a counter attack by Bees and tried her luck from 30 yards, only to see her strike marginally miss the target.
Shortly after the interval, Hills replaced Angela Addison with Bianca Baptiste and the striker’s fresh legs caused problems for Bees as clear-cut chances started to present themselves in front of goal following the change.
Spurs looked threatening in attack and Rianna Dean came close to finding the equaliser with a header that Sarah Quantrill tipped over the crossbar after a delightful ball into the penalty area from Megan Wynne.
With 73 minutes on the clock youngster Jess Naz, who was impressive once again, was fouled inside the penalty area by Rosie Lane and a confident Haines stepped up to fire the spot-kick powerfully down the middle to bring Spurs on level terms.
Seven minutes later, Bees failed to clear their lines from a corner and were punished as Green smashed the ball on the half-volley into the top left corner from 25 yards out, with her sensational goal proving to be the winner.
Karen Hills admitted her team struggled in the first half but was proud of their fight back in the second period.
"London Bees were fantastic in the first half," she said.
"They really put us under a lot of pressure. We found it really difficult as times and for us to concede in the way we did from a corner is a bit disappointing. In the second half we completely turned that around.
"We gave a performance that showed character in the second half and for us to come back out and win that game after going behind was an important statement to make. The goal from Josie Green would have been worthy of winning a game at any level."
