Percival’s late equaliser saves Spurs and dents Manchester United’s WSL hopes
Rehanne Skinner praised the “disciplined, organised, patient and committed” performance of her Tottenham team after a 55-yard free-kick in injury time from the New Zealand defender Ria Percival earned them a first point against Manchester United and moved them up to third in the Women’s Super League.
Percival’s free-kick started off as a dangerous cross into the six-yard box but then bounced past the England keeper Mary Earps and cancelled out Alessia Russo’s goal on the stroke of half-time. “It was a good bit of skill to be fair, credit where credit is due,” said Skinner, the Spurs manager. “But the response following that was exceptional.”
United, who are desperate to finish in the top three and earn Champions League football after narrowly missing out last season, had beaten Spurs each time the sides had met since the Red Devils launched a women’s team in 2018, scoring 20 goals and conceding only three in six games.
It is a testament to the development of Tottenham under Skinner, the former England assistant manager who is approaching her first anniversary in north London, that the gap between these two sides is shrinking. At the end of last season there were 27 points separating fourth-placed United and Tottenham in eighth. Now, six games in, Spurs are two points ahead of United. “It’s huge progress. It shows what we’re trying to do here at the club,” Skinner said.
The gap between the teams has not reduced solely as a result of improvement at Spurs but also in part due to a dip at United, as the club adapts to life without their former manager, Casey Stoney.
United were unbeaten and top at Christmas last season, having dropped only two points, before they slid down the table after a growing injury list took its toll. Now, under Marc Skinner, who joined from Orlando Pride, they have dropped seven points – three in a bruising 6-1 home defeat by the champions, Chelsea, two in a 2-2 draw with Manchester City and now this. However, in a 12-team league each point dropped is more keenly felt.
It took time for United to settle into the game at the Hive, where the sun shone but an icy wind swept through, but by the break they had the edge courtesy of Russo, who spent much of last season out with a hamstring injury that required surgery. Collecting a short pass from her fellow England international Ella Toone, Russo nutmegged the Canadian Olympic gold medallist Shelina Zadorsky, brushed off pressure from Ashleigh Neville and hammered a rising shot past the stand-in Spurs keeper, Tinja-Riikka Korpela, from a tight angle.
“She’s just got this wonderful strike,” Marc Skinner said. “It’s almost like a scorpion’s pincer. She whips it so quickly that the goalkeeper doesn’t have time to move.”
Despite a controlled performance from the visiting team, who were urged on by a vocal contingent of travelling fans who had braved the trip despite the 12.15pm kick-off, they were kept at bay by Spurs. Indeed, United were increasingly forced to rely on a set of fine saves from Earps, including tipping away a 30-yard effort from Kit Graham, to maintain their narrow lead.
But in the fifth minute of added time Earps’s goal was finally breached by Percival’s bouncing free-kick to spark wild celebrations.
“I didn’t really feel we were that threatened, barring a couple of shots from long distance with the wind –they used the elements well,” the United manager said.
“They didn’t hurt us, barring that last moment. We’ve got to be better, when it’s controlled, at punishing the opponent and that’s what we’re going to continue to work on.”