Brian Sorensen says his team played one of the ‘worst’ second halves he’s seen in his two years at the club as Everton let slip a 2-0 lead against Tottenham Hotspur in their last home game of the WSL season.
The game ended 2-2 at Walton Hall Park this afternoon as Tottenham’s Drew Spence and Bethany England scored either side of the half-time whistle to salvage a point ahead of their trip to Wembley next week.
Despite the Toffees going 2-0 up in 15 minutes with goals from Sara Holmgaard and Justine Vanhaevermaet, they couldn’t hold onto the lead and now end the season with just one win out of 10 home games.
Everton Boss Sorensen said: ”We’re disappointed, I think the first half was probably one of the best that we’ve played.
”We played straight through, got two good goals, and could have got more.”
He added: ”The second half was probably the worst we’ve played the whole season, maybe even the whole two years I’ve been here.”
”Of course that’s disappointing, but we still managed to pull through a result despite that.”
Speaking on their final game against Bristol City in two weeks’ time, Sorensen said: ”Hopefully we’ll get more players back, we’re still a little light, and then hopefully we will finish off the season as strong as we can.”
In the home side’s bright start to the game, Sara Holmgaard fired a powerful shot past Spurs goalkeeper Becky Spencer before Vanhaevermaet also found the net just four minutes later.
It was a disastrous and frustrating start for Spurs, as they themselves had a few chances saved by Everton’s Courtney Brosnan.
They managed to reduce Everton’s advantage however as Spence, back from injury and having already hit the post, tapped the ball into a net left empty due to a defensive error involving Brosnan.
It was another defensive mix-up that also led to the Toffees conceding the second goal just three minutes after the break, Spurs skipper England scoring from close range.
Througout the rest of the game, it was Tottenham who went on to have the better opportunities for a winner.
Jessica Naz missed two big chances before being replaced by Celin Bizet from the bench and Brosnan also did well to deny Kit Graham, Wuang Shang and England.
Speaking on the performance of his team, Spurs manager Robert Viliham said: ”It shows really good character that we can come back, and we had so many chances to score even more goals.
”We’re going to go back to London and feel like we had a good comeback in this game.”
On the upcoming final in the FA Cup next Sunday, Viliham said: ”Preparations basically start tonight to make sure we have a good week before Wembley.”
Tottenham now have seven days before they face Manchester United in their first ever FA Cup final.
Neither side have ever got this far in the competition before, and so whatever happens there is set to be a new name on the trophy this year.
Featured image courtesy of Emilie Mwanza.