Manchester United drew 0-0 away to Tottenham Hotspur, in our first Barclays Women’s Super League clash for nearly a month. The match marked the return of Ella Toone, but again Marc Skinner’s side was unprepared to shake off the bad month of March and change its fortunes. The side remains winless against the top teams in the league this year as European qualification continues to slip away.
Despite a strong start from the home side at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the Reds showed resilience at the back to ensure the deadlock was maintained going into half-time.
United improved after the break, with half-time substitute Melvine Malard going close to troubling the scoreline, before goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce was called into action on several occasions at the other end.
Positively for Marc Skinner’s visitors, Anna Sandberg, Ella Toone and Ellen Wangerheim were all able to return from their respective injuries in the second half, but it was an otherwise frustrating afternoon in our bid to qualify for next season’s UEFA Champions League.
The draw takes United above Arsenal and into the third of the WSL’s three qualification positions with two games left to play, but the Gunners are only a point behind and have three matches in hand. Second-place Chelsea, meanwhile, have opened up a four-point gap on us after winning at Everton, elsewhere on Sunday.
Spurs were soon to regain the control and tempo that they threatened United with in the first half, however, and a crucial block from Millie Turner maintained the deadlock following a corner. Tullis-Joyce did well in a crowd of bodies to jump highest and punch the initial delivery away, but Holdt was on hand to retrieve the loose ball, get past Rolfo and unleash a goalbound shot that needed Turner’s intervention.
Chances continued to come for the home side. Ella Morris dragged an effort just wide of the post, before Tullis-Joyce stuck out a leg to deny Matilda Vinberg’s near-post strike. From the resulting corner, Drew Spence had her head in her hands, after not being able to convert a ball across the face of goal, from point-blank range.With 10 minutes left on the clock and time ticking away to find a winner, Malard tried her luck again but saw her strike blocked by Nilden. Then, after a well-worked corner, Jess Park powered a long-range attempt into the arms of Kop.
United knew the importance of taking all three points from the late-season contest and made a notable last-ditch push inside six minutes of added time, but no breakthrough would arrive.
Spurs: Kop; Morris, Koga, A. Nilden, Blakstad; Hamano, Spence (c); Gaupset, Holdt (Summanen 90+3), Vinberg; Tandberg (Gunning-Williams 81).
Subs not used: Heeps, Dennis, Rybrink, Bartrip, Ahtinen, Grant, M. Nilden.
United: Tullis-Joyce; Riviere, Le Tissier (c), Turner (George 89), Lundkvist (Sandberg 63); Naalsund, Miyazawa; Park, Awujo (Malard 46), Rolfo (Wangerheim 75); Schuller (Toone 63).
Subs not used: Rendell, Middleton-Patel, Anderson.