Tottenham Hotspur‘s 40th anniversary celebrations fell flat as Manchester City cruised to a 5-1 victory at Brisbane Road.
Spurs, formed in September 1985 as Broxbourne Ladies, had not conceded a goal in their first two matches and would have gone top of the Women’s Super League (WSL) with a point.
But their 100% record was blown to smithereens as goals from Aoba Fujino, Vivianne Miedema, Kerstin Casparij, debutant Grace Clinton and Laura Coombs made it back-to-back wins for City.
The only downside for the visitors was an injury to Lauren Hemp, who limped off in the first half.
Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
City threatened early on when Hemp raced down the left but Khadija Shaw could not get on the end of her low cross.
However, England star Hemp hobbled off after 20 minutes with what looked like a nasty ankle injury.
Yet City went ahead three minutes later when Shaw laid the ball off on the edge of the box and Fujino lashed her shot into the top corner.
Shaw thought she had doubled the lead from close range at a corner but Spurs keeper Lize Kop made a stunning point-blank save.
But the second goal came from another corner with Miedema touching the ball home.
Three minutes later Miedema charged forward and when her shot took a deflection it looped up for Casparij to head in.
In the 54th minute City were awarded a penalty after Clare Hunt upended Fujino but Shaw was again frustrated by Kop, who made a fine save.
Shaw knew it was not going to be her night when she thudded a header against the crossbar.
But Clinton, City’s deadline-day signing from Manchester United, came off the bench to mark her debut by slotting home the fourth against her old club.
Spurs did at least grab a late consolation with arguably the goal of the game, a 20-yard screamer from substitute Olivia Holdt.
But Coombs had the final word with the fifth in stoppage time after she was teed up by Clinton.
Elsewhere, Isobel Goodwin scored twice as London City Lionesses registered the first WSL win in the club’s history by beating Everton 2-1.
Forward Goodwin, who was top scorer in the Women’s Championship with 16 goals during last season’s title-winning campaign, struck 13 minutes into each half at Goodison Park.
Toffees substitute Yuka Momiki halved the deficit with a 71st-minute penalty before the visitors survived heavy pressure to record a landmark victory.
Jocelyn Precheur’s newly-promoted side endured a tough start to life in the top flight, with last weekend’s 5-1 hammering at the hands of Manchester United following a 4-1 loss at Arsenal.
Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
The away team began brightly on Merseyside and Wassa Sangaré was denied a 12th-minute opener by a superb block from Clare Wheeler.
But Everton failed to deal with the resulting corner taken by Kosovare Asllani, allowing Goodwin to lash home the loose ball via the underside of the crossbar to claim her maiden WSL goal.
The hosts were beaten 2-0 by Spurs on matchweek two after beginning the season with a thumping 4-1 derby success at Liverpool.
Kelly Gago threatened a leveller just before the break when she tricked her way past Elena Linari to force a save out of visiting goalkeeper Elene Lete.
London City doubled their advantage in the 58th minute. Former Everton forward Nikita Parris was released down the left by substitute Lotta Lindström before crossing for Goodwin to power home her second of the evening.
Japan forward Momiki rolled her maiden Toffees goal into the bottom right corner from the spot to set up a tense finish after she was bundled over in the box by Jana Fernández.
Ornella Vignola went close to an equaliser with a deflected effort but London City hung on for a milestone three points.
