Tottenham boss Rehanne Skinner believes the first 20 minutes of the second half were pivotal in their 3-1 loss to Chelsea.
Spurs had gone ahead at the Hive thanks to a Sophie Ingle own goal before Guro Reiten pulled Chelsea back level.
Ann-Katrin Berger was sent off in the 33 rd minute after colliding with Rachel Williams, but goals from Sam Kerr and Jessie Fleming kept Chelsea’s title defence on track.
“I thought in the first half we were absolutely fantastic, and the players stuck to the game plan diligently,” Skinner said. “We didn’t give Chelsea any room to breathe.
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“The situation with them going to down to 10, we’ve had that ourselves.
“We warned them it makes teams come out fighting, and I just don’t think we managed the first 20 minutes of the second half well enough in possession.
“We gave away too many set plays at that time as well, and all of a sudden, you are shifting the momentum, not in your favour.”
Kerr netted a header in the 71 st minute to give Chelsea the lead for the first time in the match before a rocket from Jessie Fleming sealed the win in added time.
Chelsea maintained their place at the top of the table while Tottenham remained 10 points behind Manchester City, who occupy the final Champions League spot.
It marked back-to-back defeats for Skinner and Spurs after their shock 1-0 loss to Aston Villa last time out.
However, the Tottenham manager still looked to take the positives from an eventful clash with their London rivals.
Skinner added: “I was disappointed with the start of that second half, but as always, I can’t fault the players in terms of how hard they worked, and we were still trying to get back into it at the end.
“It’s a learning curve for us, and that’s something we’ll take out of it – and we’ll have another go on Thursday.”
Chelsea and Tottenham will do battle again at Kingsmeadow on Thursday night to continue a busy period for Spurs.
The fifth-placed side will play five games in two weeks as they play out their fixtures cancelled due to Covid.
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