Notts County Ladies looked comfortable in their FA Cup fifth round tie at home to Tottenham Hotspur, scoring four with no reply to secure a place in the quarter finals.
County had a number of debutants in their team for their first competitive fixture of the new season, and it was of their new signings, Rachel Williams who started the game the brightest.
Early on, Williams caused Spurs problems with her pace and fancy footwork and after a dangerous run by the striker, the Pies nearly opened the scoring from the resultant corner.
Just after the ten minute mark, Williams created another chance, forcing Tottenham’s defenders to make mistakes and setting up Dunia Susi who could only miss-kick her shot wide.
It wasn’t long, however, before the ball did end up in the back of the net, this time thanks to another debutant Sophie Walton, who slid her finish calmly past the onrushing Spurs keeper after some good work from Ellen White.
Just before the break Notts nearly doubled their lead but Jess Clarke was unable to force the ball over the line after Susi hit the post.
As the whistle blew for the second-half it was evident County had lost none of their momentum from the first 45 minutes. White burst down the left and squared the ball for Williams who’s effort was cleared by the Tottenham defence but only as far as White, who had continued her run and sold the defender a dummy, before blasting the ball in to the back of the net to make it 2-0.
A third for County almost came through defender Alex Greenwood who unleashed a vicious 35 yard screamer but was denied by the crossbar.
In a game of little chances for Tottenham, they had to be content with soaking up the pressure from their confident WSL 1 side hosts, which they did well until the last few minutes of the match.
With a minute of normal time left on the clock, substitute Fiona O’Sullivan poked one in from a Greenwood corner to get her first goal of the season, which she then added to in injury time, netting her second and County’s fourth from another Greenwood set-piece.
Deep into stoppage time the Irish international had the chance to seal a hatrick but headed White’s cross just wide.
A disappointing end for Spurs who had done well defensively for large periods of the game, but a great result for Notts County who will now have high hopes of reaching the final at Wembley in August.
