Two penalties from Valerie Gauvin helped Everton beat Spurs 3-2 in a five-goal Barclays FA WSL thriller at the Hive.

Gauvin slotted home from 12 yards early on after Kerys Harrop was penalised for handball, and she then found the opposite corner just over 10 minutes later.

Angela Addison applied a lovely finish to Kit Graham’s intelligent pass to get Spurs back in it, before Gemma Davison levelled proceedings with a rasping drive.

But the match-winner, to her huge delight, was Jill Scott, who thumped home a near-post header for her first Everton goal since joining on loan from Manchester City.

Addison might have put Spurs in front in the game’s opening stages after being put through by Ria Percival, but she was denied by a superb challenge from Danielle Turner, who then saw her side take the lead.

Claire Emslie’s header ricocheted off Harrop’s arm, and Gauvin made no mistake from the resulting spot kick.

Spurs’ outstanding player, Graham, was doing her best to rally her team, but they were delivered a sucker punch when Alanna Kennedy gave away a second penalty for holding.

Gauvin again obliged, but Spurs were never out of the game and Addison deservedly got them on the scoreboard before the break. Graham’s inch-perfect pass was met with an equally delicious finish.

Spurs stole the momentum when Davison struck one past Sandy MacIver to make it 2-2, but Scott had other ideas.

Her bullet header put Everton back in front, which was a lead they held despite there being further chances as the game wore on.

Rianna Dean failed to connect to a cross which had MacIver scrambling, while at the other end Izzy Christiansen fizzed an attempt just wide after a swift Everton counter attack.

An entertaining tie eventually went the way of Willie Kirk’s Toffees, who continue to have the top four in their sights.

Tottenham head coach Rehanne Skinner said: “We’ve shown a lot of belief and character today to come back from two goals down and I think overall we stuck to the game plan.

“We definitely deserved to get a point out of the game. We showed a lot of resilience to come back from 2-0 down, and that’s something we’ve been working on.

“We get ourselves back into a 2-2 position and ultimately from that point we’ve just got to make sure we keep things really tight. We did really well overall and we did deserve a point from the game.

“Esther Morgan did really well and obviously it’s her first opportunity. She’s been working really hard behind the scenes and been in training groups for quite some time. She’s a talented young player who we want to keep working with.

“There are a lot of positives to take out of today and those are the bits we need to focus on moving forward into next week’s game. We’ve created a number of good chances today - I think more clear-cut chances than in our previous games.”

Tottenham: Mikalsen, Harrop, Zadorsky, McManus, Morgan, Addison (Dean 75), Percival, Kennedy, Davison (Naz 62) (Peplow 90), Graham, Ayane (Quinn 75).

Unused subs: Martin, Worm, Cho, Green.

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