“I’ve got no idea who crossed it,” said Tottenham Hotspur’s Martha Thomas. “I remember Luana (Buhler) jumping and thinking, ‘She’s going to head this and flick it on’. I just saw the defender looking at it and thought, ‘I’ve got to get in front of that defender’.”
Thomas rose highest, her header looping over the Leicester goalkeeper. She sprinted away, knee-sliding in front of 18,000 fans and Daniel Levy at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Her 118th-minute winner had sent Spurs through to their first Wembley FA Cup final in the club’s history. “She is what Tottenham represents,” said Spurs manager Robert Vilahamn. “To dare is to do.”
“I just couldn’t believe it,” Thomas, who will play her former club Manchester United in the final after they beat Chelsea 2-1, said. “I was just chuffed, honestly so happy. I feel so proud of everybody in the group. It means the world for us to get to Wembley and make history for this club, the girls, the staff, the whole team, the fans, everyone. We’re just over the moon.”
Thomas celebrates her winner (Paul Harding/Getty Images)
It is another milestone and “evidence”, in Vilahamn’s words, of this team’s journey, which had to rebuild its foundations following the sacking of Rehanne…
