Olivia Holdt marked her debut with a stunning last-minute winner for Tottenham
Olivia Holdt came off the bench to score a brilliant 95th-minute free-kick on her debut to give Tottenham victory over Crystal Palace in an entertaining game in the Women's Super League.
Spurs captain Beth England had put the visitors in control with two fine headers in the first half but Palace rallied after the break.
Katie Stengel's superb finish from a Molly-Mae Sharpe cross halved the deficit three minutes into the second half.
The former Liverpool striker then turned provider with an inch-perfect ball in from the left for Ashleigh Weerden, who tucked it past goalkeeper Lize Kop for her first WSL goal.
A match played in horrendous conditions at the VBS Community Stadium, with driving rain and strong winds affecting both sides, looked set to end in a draw before Holdt's dramatic late intervention.
After Jess Naz was hauled down on the edge of the box, the Denmark midfielder stepped up and curled the ball over the wall into the corner of the net.
Although the wind favoured Palace in the second half, it was Tottenham who had had the better chances at 2-2.
England, who had a hat-trick goal ruled out for offside prior to Palace's equaliser, missed the best of them when she fluffed her shot after being picked out eight yards from goal by Naz.
But ultimately, it did not prove costly as Holdt, a January signing from FC Rosengard, scored less than 13 minutes into her Tottenham career as the visitors snatched victory.
Tottenham move level on points with fifth-placed Brighton, who face Manchester United on Sunday evening (18:45 GMT), while Palace stay bottom of the table on five points.
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Spurs weather the storm and find goal-scoring touch
Tottenham boss Robert Vilahamn had brushed off concerns over his side's lack of goals prior to the match, saying it was only "small margins" that have prevented them scoring more.
His confidence was justified in the first half with England's double putting the away side in a dominant position.
The England international got up well to guide Ashleigh Neville's high, hanging cross back across goal to put Spurs ahead after 14 minutes.
Nine minutes later, she doubled their lead with another header, this one bulleted in at the near most from Maite Oroz's corner.
But Palace had shown how dangerous they could be when the game was still goalless with Lexi Potter hitting a glorious chance too close to Kop in the Spurs goal after good work from Weerden and Sharpe curling a shot narrowly wide at the end of a lovely, flowing move.
It did not take long after the break for them to show their threat again and this time they had the finish to match - Stengel meeting Sharpe's whipped ball in with a sweet first-time finish.
Spurs failed to respond and Kop was called to action again soon after when Stengel threaded the ball through to Weerden.
That chance went begging but the pair combined once more and this time there was nothing Kop could do.
But having got level, Palace were unable to kick on and Tottenham found their footing in the game again.
Chances were still limited but, with the rain still teeming down, Holdt provided the cutting edge they needed to claim a fifth league win of the campaign.
