Southampton Women were dispatched 3-0 by WSL side Tottenham Hotspur Women as the London side breezed to victory whilst dumping Saints out of the Conti Cup.
Sophia Pharoah should have made the perfect start against Tottenham as the Saints player was free in the box from a corner but pea-rolled a tame effort goal bound.
Instantly, Martina Thomas had an even better chance at the other end as the Spurs attacker couldn’t convert from yards out after a low fizzed cross.
Thomas was the fulcrum of Spurs’ attacks as she started taking the game by the scruff of the neck and trying to be ruthless in attack.
The striker firstly sent a looped shot from six yards out which kissed the crossbar before minutes later sending a thunderbolt of a shot that flashed wide from range.
Saints hit the woodwork, from a delicious in swinging corner, as the home side crashed the ball against the post as Spurs got away with some weak defencing.
Just after the half an hour mark, Spurs took a deserved lead as Romana Petzelberger saw her effort trickle in after a wicked deflection wrong footed goalkeeper Bethany Howard in the Saints goal.
Spurs tried to wrap up the game before half-time with a host of chances, Howard stood up to the challenge or the visitors just weren’t clinical enough in front of goal.
The best of these chances came to Ayane Roselle whose timid effort should have caused more danger but still made Howard work in the Saints goal with a finger tipped save.
Saints trailed a goal to nil at the break and needed to increase their intensity whilst going through the gears to turn this contest around and stay in the Conti Cup.
Spurs breezed through the game as the Saints struggled to get any real momentum in the tie which saw the WSL team come quickly out of the blocks at the start of the second period.
Spurs should have doubled their lead after Jessica Naz showed her marker a clean pair of heels with some blistering pace and picked out Roselle who fired inches wide of the post.
Charlotte Grant poked home for Spurs as the defender squeezed the ball over substitute Kayla Rendell’s goal line, the goal had been coming after Spurs continued to turn the screw.
England international, Bethany England, was agonisingly close from sealing the victory with a thumping header but Grace Clinton did put the tie to bed with an emphatic strike from range.
With the referee blowing the full-time whistle, Saints’ Conti Cup journey this season was over after two losses from two against two better and powerful WSL sides, Arsenal and Tottenham.
Spurs showed their quality and out played and out classed a tireless working Southampton side who can keep their heads up after a valiant effort from the Championship outfit.
