Saturday September 13th 2003

Luton Town Belles 1 - Tottenham Hotspur 0

With both teams recently formed it was always going to be an interesting match and no one was left disappointed in a real game of two halves.

Luton had the better of the first half putting the Spurs goal under constant pressure but the defence held out well as Olivia Dacosta peppered shots in but all narrowly missed the target. Laura Pethybridge and captain Maisie Wyatt worked hard in the middle to keep Spurs under pressure and when the ball was finally played through to Bethany Smith she shot first time low into the net to make it 1-0 with just three minutes to go to the break.

The Belles celebrate Beth Smith`s winner

Skipper, Maisie Wyatt in action against Tottenham

Spurs then turned the tables on Luton and only some superb defending kept the Town in the lead. Luton keeper Nicole Jennings did well on two occasions diving to pick the ball up at the feet of the Spurs forwards and Lily Knowles and Sophie Clark both made important tackles. The closest that Luton cane to increasing their lead was when Olivia Dacosta struck a shot from fully 20 yards which whistled inches over the bar. The defensive pairing of Alexia Mouradis and Tricia Gould looked to be an excellent partnership both being comfortable on the ball in the first half and tigerish in their tackling when Spurs threatened the Luton goal.

POM: Tricia Gould – Very commanding and time and again made vital tackles