Ella Morris reflects on ‘dream’ first WSL start and win over West Ham | OneFootball

It has been a long time coming for Ella Morris, but she was delighted to earn her first start in the Barclays Women’s Super League as we ran out 2-1 winners over West Ham on Sunday.

A summer arrival from Southampton, the defender, who made her debut in the WSL in the defeat to Chelsea as a second half substitute, was named in the starting XI for the first time since she joined the Club and completed the full 90 minutes as we came from a goal down to claim the three points at Brisbane Road.

The England youth international was one of the standout players in Robert Vilahamn’s side, making six passes into the final third – the second highest in the squad – and winning 63% of her ground duels, while she also carved out a goalscoring opportunity for Bethany England in the first half, which was unfortunately ruled out for offside in the build-up.

Bethany eventually found the back of the net in the second half, cancelling out Riko Ueki’s opener for the visitors, before an injury-time own goal from Camila Saez secured the victory for us in the London derby.

Reflecting on making her first competitive start for the Club, Ella was pleased to have finally achieve her ‘dream’.

“It's huge for me,” she told SPURSPLAY. “It has been a dream for a very long time so to have got the nod from Robert was a very special moment and, most importantly, we got the points… so I can come away knowing we got a win on my full debut in the WSL.”

“It was bit of a scrappy game, not one we were necessarily proud of how we performed, but we got the result in the end and that’s all that matters with three points in the table.

“The fact we can grind out a result really shows that we’re capable of doing that and, as a team, it’s something we want to do more. Of course we want the performance to be there, but that will come in time, it’s just important that we got the points.”

Our next home match in the WSL sees us return to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as we face Arsenal – tickets still available to buy for supporters – and Ella is ready to compete in her first north London derby in our colours.

“I’m so excited for that, I have played Arsenal in the past but I’m looking forward to do it in a Spurs shirt,” she added.

“It’s a massive derby, probably one of the biggest in the world, so we want to go there and try to get the three points, replicate what the girls achieved last season. I just want all the fans to come down, support and get behind us, and get those points.”

Watch - Morris on first WSL start and win over West Ham