Rehanne: “It’s going to be a really good game”

We’ve shown a positive response in training this week to last weekend’s 1-0 defeat against Reading, Rehanne Skinner said in her SPURSPLAY interview on Thursday morning.

“Training’s been excellent this week and that’s what you want. We can’t be settling for losing games and not be performing in the way that we set out to achieve. Training is where you put things right and together we work on that and have some really open discussions about what things we want to try to do moving forward. That’s been really positive this week and the response on the pitch has been good, which is what we’d expect. We want to try to win games and ultimately that’s what we have to strive towards every week.”

The open discussions allow all of the squad members to be vocal and say what they think, Rehanne explained.

“It’s important that players know their roles, contribute and have opinions within how we achieve the best success we possibly can as a collective. It’s about us all taking ownership in those moments, so we’re here for support to elevate the group as best as we possibly can and the players are the ones that deliver on a matchday. Collectively, we’ve all got roles to play that, when you get all of that right together, you can achieve great things. That’s what we’re trying to do and what we spoke about on Tuesday.”

There was some good news during the week as Ria Percival celebrated her birthday with her return to the training pitch, having missed the past eight months through injury.

“Great way to remember her birthday, to be honest,” Rehanne said. “Ria’s an ultimate professional. Right from the start, her injury was a really challenging one and the timeframe that she had to do nothing to recover was incredibly difficult. For any player, mentally and physically, to not be able to do anything for that period of time is really tough. She’s a do-er, so in those instances it’s even harder, but we’ve managed between her and her national team squad for her to be home for a bit, which was right for her mentally at the time, to get a little bit of a change of scenery and be around family. 

“All of those pieces of it have contributed to trying to help her to move forward at the right pace and she’s improved dramatically. It’s a fantastic job in terms of the work that she’s put in and the staff around her from a medical department on our side have been great at getting her on track.”

The lift that Ria’s return has given to the squad, coinciding with the progress of Kit Graham, cannot be underestimated.

“Now she’s running round whilst we’re training and they’re all cheering and everything, so she’s just such a big part of the squad that they miss and I think that having her closer to the pitch is even better for the squad morale and to see how everyone’s moving forwards. 

“Kit Graham’s almost at the stage of team training again, which will be fantastic when we get her back on the pitch as well. She’s twitching with that and has got a couple of key markers she’s got to get just before that point. She’s not far off it now at all. The two of them back in and around the squad is great for a morale boost.”

Next up, we welcome West Ham United to Brisbane Road for Sunday’s 2pm kick-off in the Women’s Super League.

“Playing against West Ham is a local London derby. It’s a battle and we’re fairly close in terms of where our pitch is in terms of their fanbase. Collectively, across the two, we’ve got a bit of a history. We’ve had ups and downs, both of us, on both sides of it. I think it’s going to be a really good game at the weekend, no doubt about that. 

“For us, the challenge is to be better than last weekend. We try to keep improving on what we did last year but they’ll be fighting for exactly the same thing so it will definitely be a test for us but we’re up for the challenge and I’m expecting a response this weekend like we’ve had on the pitch in training this week.”

Tickets are available for Sunday's game against West Ham here.