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Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 West Ham United: Hammers’ smash and grab secures semi-final spot

West Ham United walked away from Brisbane Road with derby day bragging rights and a spot in the League Cup Semi-finals after beating Tottenham 2-1 in an end-to-end game. It was ...

West Ham United walked away from Brisbane Road with derby day bragging rights and a spot in the League Cup Semi-finals after beating Tottenham 2-1 in an end-to-end game. It was Spurs who took the early lead and dominated much of the first half – but five manic minutes saw them hand the lead to West Ham, who hung on for a huge win amid a difficult season.

As it happened

Tottenham continued a trend of early goals from their win over Leicester at the weekend, with Martha Thomas’s glanced header from a corner giving the hosts the early lead. A darting run across the box to lose her marker gave her plenty of space to bury her first goal since April 2024 and hand Spurs the advantage.

In a sign of the hectic half to follow, Thomas almost got her second soon after – she hit the post from a composed effort created by Clare Hunt’s ball to cut open the Hammers‘ defence.

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West Ham found their feet as the half continued, though, and their fortunes began to change. A stonewall penalty from a clumsy Molly Bartrip tackle was turned down by referee Ryan Atkin, but it wouldn’t be long before the Hammers made themselves heard.

Unsurprisingly, the visitors got their first on the break. Against the run of play Shekiera Martinez found Emma Harries on the overlap in plenty of space. Her cross arrived perfectly at the feet of Seraina Piubel who slotted home the equaliser, and from there Spurs began to wobble.

Straight away the hosts looked on the backfoot, with Manuela Pavi’s tricky footwork causing havoc down the right. On the stroke of halftime, Kirsty Smith floated a ball into the box that failed to meet anyone – but eventually bobbled past Eleanor Heeps to give Rehanne Skinner’s side a surprise lead.

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Spurs boss Robert Vilahamn looked to take the initiative in the second half, making four changes at the break after his side’s late collapse. They very nearly equalised straight away as Thomas connected well with a corner to force a reflex save from Megan Walsh.

The game settled from there, with West Ham doing a much better job of keeping Tottenham at bay and remaining in control of possession. Both Thomas and Beth England were still heavily involved for Spurs and forced a couple of saves from Walsh, and youngster Lenna Gunning-Williams impressed on the right wing, but still the visitors remained calm.

As the final whistle approached, Tottenham’s Matilda Vinberg came closest to what would have been a deserved equaliser. She stretched to get on the end of a whipped ball in from Thomas, but Walsh completed an evening to remember with another acrobatic save

Ultimately, that proved to be enough for Rehanne Skinner’s West Ham who battled to keep their 2-1 lead, securing a place in the League Cup semi-final to face Chelsea at Meadow Park. The quarter-final exit is a disappointing outcome for a Spurs side that made last season’s FA Cup final and had hoped for another cup run, but a wild 5 minutes ended up costing them.

Lineups

TOT: Heeps; Nildén, Bartrip, Hunt, Neville; Oroz, Thomas; Naz, Spence, Raso; England

WHU: Walsh; Smith, Saez, Cooke, Li; Pavi, Siren, Martinez, Piubel; Bergman-Lundin, Harries


Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 West Ham United: Hammers' smash and grab secures semi-final spot – FromTheSpot