The hosts couldn’t have scripted a stronger start to the Barclays Women’s Super League even if they tried, as goals from Jessica Naz, Drew Spence, Olga Ahtinen, and summer-signing Hayley Raso all saw Tottenham march home to victory over a sorry Crystal Palace side in their Barclays Women’s Super League debut.
Australian duo Clare Hunt and Hayley Raso made both made their respective league debuts in Lilywhite, whilst Robert Vilahamn opted to leave captain Bethany England on the bench.
As for Laura Kaminski, established Eagles Aimee Everett and Annabel Blanchard both were named in the starting eleven, whilst summer-signing Shae Yañez started between the sticks.
TOT: Spencer; Nildén, Bartrip, Hunt, Neville, Summanen, Spence, Oroz, Raso, Naz, Thomas
CRY: Yañez; Green, Everett, Veje, Gibbons, Potter, Riley, Gejl, Blanchard, Weerden, Stengel
Tottenham commenced the fixture with immediate intent, as summer-signing Hayley Raso caused immediate trouble for the visiting Eagles. The Australian had her chances early, but none of the initial efforts made by the Australian would make it past Yañez.
However, the deadlock would be broken in the 19th minute by the aforementioned Raso, as she weaved expertly past a number of Palace defenders, before slotting home a slow-rolling strike into the bottom corner for her debut goal in Lilywhite.
Despite what looked to be a one-sided contest at Brisbane Road, Laura Kaminski’s side were able to remain compact and keep the hosts to just the one goal as the half time whistle blew.
Though the small deficit wouldn’t stand much longer, as Tottenham came out in firing form for the second half. Dripping in experience and composure, Drew Spence flicked-on a no-look pass through to the feet of an advancing Jess Naz. Despite the best efforts of Yañez to save the first strike, Naz was able to collect the crumbs and fire home Tottenham’s second in the 53rd minute.
Palace were eager to respond, this time through their second-top-goalscorer of the 2023/24 campaign in Annabel Blanchard. Despite her best efforts, Blanchard fired her strike just wide of the intended target as Becky Spencer breathed a sigh of relief in between the posts.
It wouldn’t be long before Spurs would strike once again, as Spence controlled the ball down with composure, before slotting her strike into the bottom-left corner from the edge of the 18-yard box.
Tottenham’s midfielders would continue to flex their muscles, as Robert Vilahamn opted to make a change to his central third, swapping in Olga Ahtinen in replacement of her Finnish counterpart in Eveliina Summanen. The subsitution came to fruition almost immediately, as Ahtinen fired a brilliant looking strike goal-bound, before being narrowly denied by Yañez tipping the shot over the crossbar.
It wouldn’t be long before Ahtinen reaped the rewards of her efforts, as a classy strike from outside of the area found the top-right corner to give Tottenham their fourth goal of the afternoon.
If the scoreline wasn’t already enough of an undesirable result for the Eagles on their top-flight debut, matters would be made worse in the closing stages, as Brooke Aspin faced a double-yellow booking to see her shown out of the action. The first of the bookings came from an impedance on Anna Csiki’s streaming run, then followed with Aspin receiving a second yellow card for booting the ball into Csiki on the floor.
It was jubilation for Tottenham Hotspur, as a 4-0 victory to commence the campaign is as good as it gets for Robert Vilahamn’s side. As for Laura Kaminski and Crystal Palace, there is plenty of work to be done if they are eager to compete in the Barclays WSL.
