Veerle Buurman’s first Chelsea goal was a “rocket” that saved her side from extra time as they saw off a determined Tottenham side to win 2-1 at home in the FA Cup quarter-final.
The Dutch defender was brought off the bench to shore up the Chelsea defence as Spurs rallied for one goal down, but her thunderous late strike meant the Blues’ search for a second trophy this season continued.
Midweek, Chelsea were left lamenting their Champions League exit after failing to overturn a 3-1 deficit at home to Arsenal. Alyssa Thompson was literally in tears. Although that was a result of having her hair pulled by Katie McCabe late on in the match.
And with the WSL title all but sewn up by Manchester City, Sonia Bompastor’s side are relying on the only remaining domestic cup to add to the League Cup trophy they won against Manchester United in March.
“Now we have two main objectives, qualifying for the Champions League next season, but also making sure we try to win the FA Cup,” Bompastor said.
“Being able to win the FA Cup last year at Wembley was probably one of the best experiences I’ve had in my whole career as a player and a manager. We just want to experience that again.”
Chelsea dominated the early proceedings, accruing 67.5% possession in the first 15 minutes. However, the created very little from their dominance.
Meanwhile, Tottenham, after surviving longer than they did in the North London derby against Arsenal last week, would have been pleased with their defence. Albeit while not demonstrating much in the way of attack, themselves.
Back-to-back 5-2 defeats against the Gunners and Manchester City were characterised by conceding early goals. In both matches, Martin Ho’s side allowed three goals against them inside the first half hour. And while they did score in that timeframe in both games, the scoreline being 0-0 at 30 minutes would have been seen as a success.
Nevertheless, in amongst the wave of Blue attacks, Spurs’ first real chance came in the 31st minute when Bethany England was slipped through but her strike was superbly blocked by a sliding Niamh Charles.
Chelsea were made to wait until the 40th minute for the breakthrough. Neat link-up play between Sjoeke Nusken and Keira Walsh found the latter on the byline. The England international’s dug-out cross was misjudged by Lize Kop, allowing Kerr to nod into an empty net. She made it look good though – in off the post.
For context, Spurs had already conceded three by that point last week. And it paid off after the break as Tottenham equalised in the 52nd minute through Evelina Summanen’s stunning free kick.
Her cross looped over everyone, including Hannah Hampton, who misjudged the flight of the ball, to nestle in the top corner. Whether it was intentional or not remains up for debate but even Summanen herself seemed surprised she had scored before sheepishly celebrating in front of the away fans.
Kop had to be alert two minutes later to prevent her side from squandering their efforts to draw level. Kerr was gifted possession on the edge of the Tottenham penalty area but the keeper was quick off her line to smother the danger.
As time ticked by, the game opened up with both sides passing up chances to take the lead.
Ellie Carpenter missed a golden opportunity to restore the Blues’ lead in the 64th minute but her free header from seven yards out was sliced wide past the post.
For a long time it seemed like neither side wanted to score. But as it looked like the match was destined for extra time, substitute Buurman unleashed a crashing strike that rifled into the top right corner. It left Kop with no chance – it almost took the net off.
“It was a rocket,” Bompastor said.
“She had great performances coming into today but for a teenager like her to be able to have this impact in a team like Chelsea, it means a lot.”
Tandberg had a chance to equalise in stoppage time but she dragged her effort narrowly wide of the post to condemn Tottenham to their third consecutive defeat.
But despite that, manager Martin Ho took positives from the performance.
“There’s lots to take from it. We can take a lot moving forward, definitely. It’s a better performance than we’ve put in the last two [matches],” he said.
“You get dented a little bit in terms of confidence and maybe enthusiasm at times, but you never lose belief in the mentality to want to go and put things right. This definitely helps us understand where we’re at, what we need to do, how we need to adapt knowing that we’re moving in the right direction.”
