Tottenham boss Rehanne Skinner has admitted her side are in a "battle" to turn their season around following a ninth consecutive defeat in the Women's Super League.
Spurs were beaten 2-1 by newly-promoted Liverpool on Sunday, despite having initially taken the lead at Prenton Park. Rosella Ayane's well-struck effort was quickly cancelled out by Emma Koivisto's deflected strike, before Missy Bo Kearns completed the Reds' comeback in the 35th minute.
This continuation of Tottenham's rotten run in the top- flight means they are now just two points and two places above the drop zone, with bottom-of-the-league Leicester having enjoyed something of a resurgence since the turn of the year. But while Skinner is realistic about the murky waters Spurs now find themselves in, she's confident her players have the belief and quality to ensure their WSL survival.
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"You have to be disappointed with the result because otherwise you don’t care," she said post-match. "At half time in particular, the players were very focused on what we need to do to improve and their contributions are huge because they’re driving things on the pitch as well, which is great for the team.
"You can see the commitment and the work ethic. There’s fight within every single player that’s coming on to the pitch and that’s something that we just have to hold on to. There’s belief in the team.
"Every time we turn up we’re expecting to get something out of the game, which is what we need, but we know we’re in a battle and we know we’ll keep working towards that and keep doing everything we can to get a result."
The Tottenham boss was also frustrated that Liverpool's winning goal was allowed to stand, amid suggestions striker Katie Stengel was in an offside position in the build-up which possibly obstructed Tottenham goalkeeper Tinja-Riikka Korpela.
“I’m disappointed and frustrated, for sure, by the nature in which we lost the game because the goal was clearly offside," Skinner said.
“That’s really difficult to take when your players are giving absolutely everything they can to turn our luck around. For it to happen in that way, it’s hard to justify to the players when they’ve given everything, unfortunately, but the way its dealt with has got to be better.”
Spurs only have a few days to pick themselves up before a massive clash with Leicester on Wednesday night. The Foxes will travel to Brisbane Road buoyed by their hard-fought draw with Everton at the weekend, but Skinner believes her side will come out fighting when they take to the field in East London.
"Obviously you have to get over things so that’s what we’ll do tonight and then tomorrow we start again," she said. "It’s a quick turnaround but we’ll be wanting to get back on the pitch and put this one right."
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