By Megan Feringa
Tottenham Hotspur booked their place in the Women's FA Cup Final with a late extra-time win over Leicester City.
Spurs have grown accustomed to doing things the difficult way in this year's competition, needing last-gasp magic against Sheffield United in the fourth round before defeating WSL behemoths Manchester City in a dramatic penalty shoot-out in the quarter-finals.
Unsurprising then that Spurs produced a comeback victory here in the semi-finals, first with Jessica Naz seizing the equaliser with minutes remaining in regular time before Martha Thomas supplied the winner with three minutes remaining in extra-time.
A game which toiled to produce a killer edge finally found it in the dying moments of extra-time, and it was appropriate that Spurs' surprise star goal-scorer Thomas, now into double digits for this season, was the one to break the deadlock with the game seeming destined for spot-kicks.
Leicester opened the scoring through Jutta Rantala with an exceptional shot rifled into the roof of the net. That the Foxes found themselves in the ascendency boiled down to two factors: Rantala’s clinical finishing this season (the Finnish star has scored five goals in her last seven matches) and the hosts’ wastefulness.
Chances fell in rapid succession as Spurs’ Celin Bizet and Manchester United loanee Grace Clinton exploited Leicester’s slow backline in the opening exchanges. Yet, a failure to capitalise kept the door propped open for the visitors who took their chance where Spurs couldn’t.
Spurs needed nearly 70 minutes to take theirs, a gaffe from Leicester City defender Josie Green granting the opportunity to leave Jessica Naz sprinting in behind. The finish was splendid: drilled home low and fierce into the far right corner, restoring parity with just eight minutes of regular time left on the clock.
An historic semi-final was always going to come down to chances. But after the visitors' opener, Spurs - who have been in eight FA Cup semi-finals via their men's senior team but never emerged on the right side of the margins - looked almost too desperate to make the most of theirs. The Foxes could've been two clear after Deanne Rose, a nuisance throughout the match with her pace, found Sam Tierney inside the six-yard box. But the midfielder’s soft shot was denied by Rebecca Spencer’s splayed leg.
Tottenham's best chances arose through Clinton’s quality and guile in midfield. But the Lioness betrayed signs of the frustration gurgling throughout her team as chances came and went, the attack growing increasingly disjointed and toothless. The arrival of the club’s top-goalscorer before the hour-mark, replacing Bizet, was testament to this.
The Foxes were slick in possession and forced Spurs into sloppy mistakes in their defensive third. But a frenetic final 20 minutes gave way to an uncharacteristic mistake from the visitors, which Naz made no mistake of making count.
The result: the wild flurry of last-gasp chances only a loudly ticking clock can produce. But despite both keepers called to produce big saves -- first Spurs keeper Becky Spencer then Lize Kop denying Thomas by finger-tips -- extra-time beckoned.
Leicester came closest to finding a winner here as Spencer pushed Rantala's free-kick onto the crossbar. The visitors could feel slightly aggrieved to see a shove on Sophie Howard go unpunished.
Tired legs crept in and the match lacked any cutting edge. But Thomas, as has become custom this season, produced when it mattered.
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