Brighton 0-1 Spurs (WSL) | Ho’s verdict: “They gave me everything”

Martin Ho was full of pride for his side’s performance to grind out another three points on Sunday with a 1-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion in the Barclays Women’s Super League.

Cathinka Tandberg capped off a fantastic move to slot home from close range to maintain her impressive start in England’s top flight since her move in the summer, netting her third goal in five WSL games. That goal proved to be the difference in the end to see us climb to third in the table, just one point off league leaders Chelsea at this stage.

Meanwhile, we put in another resolute defensive performance to hold off late pressure from the Seagulls to preserve our third clean sheet in the league – already beating last season’s total of two after the opening five games.

With 12 points out of possible 15 in his maiden campaign so far at the helm, our Head Coach spoke of his delight with the goal and the importance of another strong defensive performance to see out the win.

“Massive,” Martin told us, speaking to SPURSPLAY after the game. “I think it’s a big result. First half, I thought we were good with the ball and off the ball, with the pressure, I thought we were very good.

“Then, second half, we showed moments with the ball, but I thought we dropped a little bit too deep and we gave them too much space sometimes in the middle of the pitch. But, more importantly, the team’s done it again - they’ve grind out a really tough result, and I think we deserved it.

“We were on top [in the first half]. You have to take advantage and capitalise on that, I think we did. Jess put the ball in and Tinka finished it well, the whole move was good. It’s something we’d spoken about, so it was really nice to see it work and come off. As a team, I’m really proud of them.”

We limited the away side to just two shots on target throughout the 90 minutes – compared to our seven – and Martin wanted to praise the whole eleven, alongside the defence and goalkeeper Lize Kop, for nullifying Brighton’s opportunities.

“The backline and goalkeeper will always get the plaudits, but you defend from the front, and everyone was involved,” he added.

“A lot of the big pressure moments came when people were tired, but they still pushed past that line to stop Brighton progressing forward. Some of the blocks from Clare [Hunt], Toko [Koga], Amanda [Nilden] and Ash [Neville] - and Lize in goal - they were brilliant.

“I think Lize had only two shots to deal with on target all game. That’s what you want - nullify their chances, keep a clean sheet, and score at the other end.

“It builds confidence - not just in defence but across the whole group, that we can defend our box, be resilient and keep teams out. We’ll need more of that going through the season, but I couldn’t have asked for more. They’ve given me everything.”

“I demand a lot from them, especially off the ball - and they can probably see that passion from me on the touchline - but I couldn’t be prouder.”