Rehanne Skinner was left feeling “disappointed” by her side’s listless start in their 1-0 loss to league strugglers Reading as familiar lapses in intensity threaten to cut Tottenham Hotspur adrift from the top six.
Spurs put in a near unrecognisable performance in their opening spell at the Select Car Leasing Stadium on Sunday afternoon and defender Amy Turner’s headed own goal in the 11th minute arrived as a consequence amid a frenetic goalmouth scramble.
The Lilywhites struggled to establish any rhythm in a disjointed first-half performance and relied heavily on goalkeeper Rebecca Spencer to mitigate the threat of further punishment from a Reading side that had won only once in the league going into Sunday.
And while second-half substitutions Kerys Harrop, Chioma Ubogagu and Celin Bizet inspired some life into the display, Skinner was left unimpressed by the overall performance.
“I think the better team won and sometimes you just have to be able to take that,” she told Spurs media after the match. “Obviously, it’s not good enough from our perspective. We all agree, first 20 minutes, I was really disappointed with the way we approached the game. I thought it took us too long to get into it. We gave Reading a lead. To be fair to them, they worked really hard and made life really difficult for us to get back into the game.”
The Lilywhites have struggled this season to maintain tempo throughout a match, prone to tapering off in the second half, and it has often proved a source of post-match frustration for Skinner.
And while she acknowledged the improvements induced by the changes after the interval and a more improved finish to the match, Skinner implored her side to put in a more comprehensive and clinical shift on both sides of the interval if they are to make a stand for a top six finish.
“I thought we finished the game much better than what we have in recent games so we have to be able to do the top and bottom,” Skinner said. “It’s a much longer game than just 15-minute spells here and there.
“I think we have to manage both parts of the game and I don’t think we did that well enough in the first half. I thought they put us under more pressure. I think when you’re going into the last 15 minutes and you’re having to throw everything at it when really we’ve had 75 minutes before that to try and do better and try and create better chances. We just have to take those moments when they arise really and we’ll learn from it. We’ll look back on it and we have to get ready again for next weekend for a similar style of game.”
Tottenham return to WSL action on Sunday when they welcome sixth-place West Ham to Brisbane Road.
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