By Rachel Cohen

The first North London Derby of the week was played out on a dark, wet, Wednesday on a slippery pitch in Borehamwood. Spurs had been on the harsh end of big scorelines in their previous two games against Manchester City and United (7-0 and 4-0). Conversely, Arsenal were coming off a victory against last season’s WSL Champions, Chelsea. That meant that most Spurs fans were in trepidatious mood tramping across North-north London to the ground. But the game was much more fun than most of us expected.

With it being a group game in the Conti Cup, both sides rotated. Arsenal because they have a very deep squad; Spurs more out of necessity, but also to retain a few players fresh for NLD Part II (coming this Saturday).

It was a rollicking, end-to-end game. By the end of it Spurs had racked up more goals against Arsenal than they ever have before. And even though Arsenal kept on pegging Spurs back the team kept on going, three times taking the lead and then, in the final minutes, defending to retain a point.

It is likely that NLD Part II at the Tottenham Stadium will be a very different animal, but what did we learn from this first ContiCup version?

1. Defensive midfielders are over-rated (kind of!)

We started a side with two number 10s, Kit Graham and Ramona Petzelberger in the holding midfield positions and our striker and top scorer this season, Martha Thomas, dropping back to the #10 role, to allow Jess Naz, usually a winger, to start up top. In other words, we had a central midfield made up purely of attacking players and in which everyone was seemingly out of position. And yet, it kind of worked. Naz found her scoring boots, netting a brace. Thomas was strong in the centre of the pitch, held players off and found a beautiful through ball for Jess Naz’s second.

More surprisingly Graham and Petzelberger shone. Graham was almost always the first pass as Spurs played out from the back – typically receiving the ball from Molly Bartrip at Centre back. And she did what was needed, moving the ball around, providing options and, even making headed clearances. Petzelberger, making a rare start, played a little in front of Graham and found pockets of space, put in tackles and interceptions, took on players and showed the kind of quality we had thought she might bring when she signed 18 months ago.

It’s not clear that this will be a long term solution to the absence of Olga Ahtinen and Eveliina Summanen (both out with injury and sorely missed) and with the signing of Shuang Wang we have at least one more option in the centre of the field come January. But it was a surprising and positive choice by the manager to play this line-up and proof that sometimes attack is the best form of defence.

2. Bara Votíková is a decent keeper

Votíková has started all our cup games, but this was the first in which she was tested, with the previous two against Championship Reading and Bristol City’s B-team. In this game she showed that she could make a stop and was calm with the ball at her feet. She also commanded her area, claiming balls, but also moving players into position or adjusting the wall when she faced free kicks and shouting instructions at other times. This organisation is one reason she made light work of saving the few direct free kicks she faced.

Votíková also saved a penalty, and got close on a couple more. This may seem mundane, but neither Becky Spencer nor, previous keeper, Tinni Korpela are penalty specialists, so it was a nice change to go into a shootout knowing that we did not only have to rely on Arsenal messing up (in the event her save was not enough, but we got closer than we have).

All in all, it was good to see her tested, and passing the test. It’s not clear that Vilahamn will drop Spencer, despite a couple of poor performances. Not least because the Jamaican number one is very experienced and he has repeatedly praised her on-ball skills. But if he is minded to, we should be more confident that there is a capable backup.

3. Thomas hasn’t lost her scoring touch

After racking up a quick six goals in the WSL (seven in all competitions), Martha Thomas had been on a brief dry spell, not finding the net in six games for Spurs. She has also been on the losing side in a couple of Scotland internationals. So, it was great to see her in the box, from where she sent in a powerful and perfectly placed header for the first goal. We need our scorers to be on form and if this gives her an extra boost of confidence before NLD Part II it’s all to the good.

4. It was fun to have Grace Clinton back

Clinton, who is on loan from Manchester United sat the last game out because it was against her parent club. In the game before that (against City) she had started at the number 10 position and struggled to make an impact. But in this game, starting out wide and cutting inside, Clinton played with freedom and regularly dribbled out from the swarm of Arsenal players she attracted.

The only downside was that Clinton again demonstrated that her defending can be clumsy. She got a card and was, arguably, lucky not to get another one. This is something she needs to work on, because she adds a lot of creativity and we do not want her to get suspended.

5. Spurs’ media team does not understand the Conti Cup.

This is a stuck record as I’ve talked about it on Twitter as well, but it is extraordinary that following the end of the game Spurs sent out social media content describing Arsenal as ‘winning’ the tie and Spurs playing ‘valiantly’ (an adverb that invariably describes a losing side). This was even replicated in the questions the SpursPlay interviewer asked Jess Naz postgame.

Yet, as per Conti Cup rules, Spurs and Arsenal drew the game. That is why the Group D league table shows them each as having two wins and a draw. Arsenal won the penalty shootout and because of that they got an extra point (two to Spurs’ one). This – the shootout and extra point – is a quirk of the Conti Cup. But winning the shootout is not winning the game.

The issue is that by describing it as a loss Spurs are underselling the women’s team’s achievements and doing this at exactly the time when they want to encourage people to come to this Saturday’s North London Derby Part II. And since loosing a shootout typically means going out of a cup it may suggest that was the result of last night, when in fact it has put Spurs in with a very good chance of getting to the Quarter Finals as (at worst) best runner up, should they beat Championship side, Southampton, in their final Group game in January.

They are also glossing over our second ever draw against Arsenal, which we should celebrate – not because we don’t want to eventually beat them (over and over again please), but because it is progress. And because they hate even drawing against us.