Watford Ladies continued their upturn in form by beating Tottenham Hotspur Ladies 2-0 in a friendly at Vicarage Road on Wednesday evening.

Simona Petkova opened the scoring for the Lady Hornets with a superb volley and the lead was doubled in the second half when Cherrelle Albert netted from the penalty spot.

Despite a number of other chances in the second 45 minutes, the scoreline remained the same as the Golden Girls warmed up nicely for Sunday’s trip to leaders Everton where they will be seeking a third straight Women’s Super League 2 victory.

Long-range strikes were in favour in the first half as Spurs’ Eartha Pond’s free-kick from 30 yards went narrowly wide of the left-hand post before Albert’s attempt also went the wrong side of the upright.

Spurs’ Andrea Georgiou then had a shot from 25 yards that was comfortably held by Lucy Gillet in the Watford goal.

The deadlock was broken midway through the first half when Charlotte Kerr’s corner found its way through to Petkova, who connected with a volley which went into the bottom left-hand corner.

The Golden Girls should have made it two only a few minutes later when Albert got plenty on her strike but Chloe Morgan got just enough of a hand on the ball to keep it out.

Watford created an opening early into the second half through a quick free-kick from Anneka Nuttall. The captain’s quick thinking caught Tottenham off guard and saw Kerr in plenty of space, she fizzed a ball across but Leah Cudone could not get on the end of it.

But the hosts did double their lead when a burst into the box from Rinsola Babejide resulted in the Watford forward being brought down by Pond, the referee awarded a penalty and Albert stepped up and powered it into the bottom left corner, leaving the keeper with no chance.

The hosts should have made it three with 15 minutes to go when Nuttall’s thunderbolt from 30 yards came back off the bar and Otesha Charles somehow managed to put the follow up over.

The away side did have a couple of chances to get one back at the end but Gillett did enough to thwart the danger.

Watford Ladies: Gillett, Puddefoot (Will 65), Nuttall, Albert, Maple (Neal 71), Jordinson (Baxter 81), Cudone (Charles 60), Kerr, Petkova, Poole (Wotton 81), Fatuga-Dada (Babajide 60).