Spurs 1-0 Leicester City (WSL) | Martin Ho's verdict

Martin Ho felt it was a ‘rusty’ performance on our return to Barclays Women’s Super League action but described it as an ‘important’ three points as we secured a 1-0 win over Leicester City on Sunday afternoon.

Both sides lacked real quality throughout much of the contest at Brisbane Road, the first game back after the three-week festive break, but we produced the much-needed goal in the last five minutes of the first half, albeit with plenty of fortune, as Eveliina Summanen’s corner was turned into her own net by goalkeeper Olivia Clark for the only goal of the game.

Leicester pushed for an equaliser in the second period, but we stood strong to earn our fifth clean sheet of the WSL campaign, while we had our own chances to double our lead in the closing stages – Bethany England and Toko Koga both going close.

The victory sees us climb to fourth in the table - level on points with Arsenal in third – while we maintain a strong record at home as we extend our unbeaten run to six games in all competitions.

“In the first half, we had the ball and we moved it quite well,” he told us, speaking to SPURSPLAY after the game. “They sat in a really good, organised block and maybe we could have gone behind them a little bit more at times and been a bit more decisive with our movement and our build-up play.

“I think, in the second half, we were a bit freer with the movement and we got into the right positions. We broke lines a lot more and had more purpose to our play. We maybe just lacked a little bit of cutting edge in front of goal, but for large parts we were good with the ball. Off the ball, in phases, we were good defensively, but at other times I thought we were a little bit naive and allowed too many transitions.

“We know we’ve got a lot of work to do to get to where we want to go and where we want to be. After Christmas, with it being the first performance and first game back, there’s always a little bit of nerves and rustiness. We need to get that out of our bodies, but to come away with three points is important.”

On the importance of the goal just ahead of the break, he said: “There’s a bit of luck in how it happens, but sometimes you need to create that. I think the goal came at a good time. We’d had some really good moments just before that, with good link-up play and movements through the middle of the pitch.

“They were blocking really well in front of goal. The goal opened the game up a little bit for us and allowed us to be more dynamic. The chance comes from a set play and it goes in, you have to take those moments. You need luck sometimes to win games and fortunately it went our way.”

Martin also handed a debut to Signe Gaupset, who was in from the start, and the young midfielder showed glimpses of quality in her performance – and our Head Coach says there’s even more to come from her.

A debut to remember for Signe! 👏 Introducing your @BarclaysWSL POTM 🏅 pic.twitter.com/s9czNU1yrJ

— Tottenham Hotspur Women (@SpursWomen) January 11, 2026

“She’d be fairly happy with the performance to a certain extent, although when I spoke to her afterwards, she was a little bit apprehensive,” he added. “She needs some time to adapt. She’s just come from a full season in Norway and she’s in her off-season now.

“She still has some physical markers we need her to get to, but she’s doing really well. She showed flashes of what she’s capable of. She knows, and I know, the level she can get to. The fans should be excited to see her here for a while and to see the performances she’s going to give.”