Rehanne: ‘We’re going to keep battling’

Rehanne Skinner was pleased with the overall performance as we battled for points in Sunday’s Women’s Super League game against Manchester City.

“I thought we gave a really good account of ourselves overall,” she told us after the game. “We went ahead in the game, it was a fantastic, well-worked goal and we were defending really diligently and making life really difficult for them. 

“When we went ahead, that was great for us, and we managed the game really well after that point, which is something we haven’t done all the time. Going in 1-1 at half-time was disappointing given everything we’d put in. 

“In the second half, the early situation with the penalty put us on the back foot and that made it quite difficult. When we pushed higher, we created an opportunity where we didn’t have enough bodies in the box to defend the cross.

“We started really well and managed moments in the game where there was a bit of pressure put on us. We expect players like Lauren Hemp and Chloe Kelly to get balls into the box and I thought we defended really well. We created a goalscoring opportunity for ourselves, which was a really well worked goal, and we took it brilliantly, so I was really pleased with that.”

There was a special mention for Tinja-Riikka Korpela and Molly Bartrip, who made plenty of saves and blocks respectively throughout the match.

“Tinni was exceptional and Molly made some crucial blocks at key times,” Rehanne reflected. “I think she was outstanding today. We just ended up having a bit of an overload at times and that caused us a problem, but that’s what you get when you’re trying to get a point out of the game. 

“I’m proud of the overall performance of the team. It’s not the result we want but we’re going to keep battling and improving week on week.”

Celin Bizet scored her first goal for Spurs in the 31st minute, getting on the end of a well-worked counter-attack to cushion the ball into the roof of the net.

“Celin’s been working really hard to get that,” Rehanne said about the summer signing. “She’s been working to score and I thought she took it really well. She had another late opportunity that was narrowly wide. 

“Getting Lenna Gunning-Williams on the pitch for the first time in the WSL was a huge positive. She’s come through our academy as one of our youth players so it’s a good opportunity for her to play in this kind of setup as well.”

Finally, Rehanne was full of praise for Drew Spence, who made her 150th appearance in the WSL against City.

“It sums up her fantastic career. She’s won a lot of trophies and titles. It’s not surprising that she’s got 150 WSL caps and I’m glad she’s done that with us. She’s been performing brilliantly and she’s a fantastic asset to our team. Long may it continue.”