Ryan Asman

A 118th minute winner from Martha Thomas was enough to seal Spurs’ first ever spot at the FA Cup Final, defeating Leicester City in extra time.

Jutta Rantala had given Leicester a stunning 12th minute lead, which The Foxes held all the way to the 83rd minute, when Jess Naz hauled Spurs level to send the tie to extra time.

Martha Thomas rose highest from a Luana Buhler flick on to spark scenes of jubilation in N17 on a historic day for Tottenham Hotspur. 

Both sides remain unchanged from their last matches, with Grace Clinton and Bethany England starting for Spurs, with Jennifer Foster also naming an unchanged side which included the likes of Captain, Sam Tierney and former Spurs Josie Green.

Leicester got us underway in the spring sunshine in North London with a very strong away following backing them in the north east corner of Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. 

Sam Tierney had the games first effort, pouncing on a loose Spurs pass, but the Leicester skipper’s long range strike flew wide of the goal. 

Spurs’ speedster Jess Naz was sent away down the right hand side early on too, running at Janice Cayman but her cross was just beyond the reach of Bethany England who was converging in the middle. The hosts had the games first real chance too, when Celin Bizet raced onto a through ball from Grace Clinton, but her effort was well saved by the legs of Lize Kop in the Leicester goal. 

The hosts were going at Leicester early on with another chance falling to Celin Bizet who raced clear after being played in by Jess Naz, but this time her effort was too high and sailed over the crossbar. 

Against the run of play for the opening ten minutes, Leicester blew the early stages wide open with an absolute screamer, Jutta Rantala was fed down the right and cut inside to fire an unstoppable shot into the corner which flew past Becky Spencer before she even saw it and give The Fozes a stunning lead inside quarter of an hour, with her tenth of the season.

Spurs attempted to reply in kind instantly with Grace Clinton, but her low effort was straight down the throat of the Leicester keeper. The visitors then almost had a second soon after, as Lena Petermann reacted to a cut back the quickest and saw her effort saved buy the leg of Becky Spencer. Amy James-Turner then found herself in the referee’s notebook for a chopping challenge on goalscorer, Rantala.

Jess Naz then once again showed her trickery and speed down the right, facing up her marker before flashing the Balla cross the face of goal without a Lilywhite touch, Leicester also displayed their threat on the counter, with Deanne Rose curtting in from the left but whistling her effort over the bar.

Jessica Naz once again for Spurs drove at the heart of the Leicester defence, but her left footed strike flew well wide of the post. 

Evelina Summanen got her head to a corner, seven minutes before the break but headed over, with replays showing the Finn should’ve at least hit the target with her effort.

Emily Heaslip blew her halftime whistle with The Foxes holding a slender lead, thanks to Rantala’s rocket.

The Foxes almost got that dream start to the second half, attacking within the opening seconds, as Petermann saw her effort blocked well by Luana Buhler. 

Grace Clinton fed Amanda Nilden who cut in from the left to have Spurs’ first chance of the half, but her right footed effort sailed over the bar. 

Evelina Summanen had yet another sighter from a Spurs corner, lashing her effort over the bar when once again she ought to have done a lot better,

Vilahman and Spurs were first to shuffle the pack, with Martha Thomas entering the game in place of Celin Bizet, which prompted a Spurs reshuffle, with Bethany England dropping back to the number 10 role, Grace Clinton out on the left, Jess Naz on the right and the introduced Thomas up front. 

Leicester were next to make a change, with Captain Sam Tierney being replaced by Emilia Pelgander. Naz again was wasteful on the hour, lashing a wild left footed effort over the bar. 

Clinton then swung in an early cross looking for Martha Thomas, but the Scot couldn’t connect and Kop was out to claim.

A late triple Spurs change as we ticked into the last fifteen minutes, with Olga Ahitnen, Charli Grant and Matilda Vinberg replacing Amanda Nilden, Grace Clinton and Evelina Summanen. 

After her wasteful chances, Jess Naz finally made one count with eight minutes to go, racing through and giving Kop no chance to haul Spurs level and breathe life back into the majority of the 18,000 strong Tottenham Hotspur crowd. 

Bethany England then almost pinched a winner, but was inches away from getting on the end of Charli Grant’s cross after great work down the left from the Aussie. 

Leicester weren’t done there and Shannon O’Brien danced past two challenges fantastically before firing low at Bekcy Spencer who pushed the effort wide. From the resulting corner, Spurs charged forward with Naz who had a new lease of life, with her ball in towards England not amounting to anything . 

Grant again produced another stunning cross, which Thomas headed over as the board with six minutes injury time went up.

Lize Kop then pulled off a incredible one touch save to deny Martha Thomas’ arrowing low effort, with virtually all the ground thinking it had nestled into the far corner, but Kop’s antics had kept Leicester in the tie and send it to extra time.

Full Time - TOT 1-1 LEI

Extra time got underway with a now palpable sense of pressure around Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. 

Two free kicks for Spurs in promising positions showcased one extreme to the other, with one chance being headed away by the first player, and the other floating through to be an easy catch for Kop in the Leicester goal. 

Leicester then won a free kick in a promising position, with Rantala lashing a left footed effort touched every so slightly by Becky Spencer which pushed it onto the bar and bounced away. 

Olga Ahitnen broke away down the left as we neared the halfway point of extra time after another great ball from Bethany England, but the Finns effort was well saved at her near post by Kop.

The break in extra time came and went, with just fifteen minutes standing between the two sides and a place in the FA Cup final.

Leicester seemed to find a second wind in the second period of extra time, with Rantalla putting in a stunning cross which couldn’t be met by a Blue shirt and was headed away, 

With two minutes of extra time to go, Tottenham won a corner, which found the head of Martha Thomas who looped a header past the goalkeeper to send the Tottenham Hotspur stadium into raptures and secure their place at Wembley. 

Extra Time - Full Time - Tottenham 2-1 Leicester