Tottenham head coach Rehanne Skinner expressed her frustration at her side’s inability to create enough chances as they lost 1-0 to a late Ramona Petzelberger header against Aston Villa.
The defeat is a huge blow to Spurs’ hopes of qualifying for the Champions League and now leaves them ten points behind third-placed Manchester United. Spurs dominated most of the game but Skinner said her side must do better at both ends of the pitch going forward.
She said: “There were certainly opportunities we had, but I think our final ball was lacking a little bit in the first half so we’re overrunning things, making chances hard to come by. The attitude was there to try and get into those goal-scoring opportunities, but I don’t think we created enough clear-cut chances today.”
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The game looked to be heading for a goalless draw until Petzelberger headed home at the back post from a flick-on to secure Villa’s fifth away win of the season, and Skinner was disappointed with the way her side defended.
“We’ve got to do better across the whole course of the game,” added Skinner. “We put ourselves under pressure by not scoring those opportunities earlier on and conceding a set-piece late on makes it an uphill struggle. It was just disappointing all around. Ultimately, it’s just making sure that we are switched on and marking players when it matters, and we did not do that and unfortunately we conceded.”
Spurs had opportunities to win the game with Rachel Williams’ shot cleared off the line by Rachel Corsie in the second-half the best of few chances. Williams also had a penalty appeal turned down while teammate Angela Addison also saw her claims turned away, something that Skinner rued after the game.
She added: “We try not to get involved in it too often and I don’t talk about it too much but there are only certain things we can control. We’ve had two major penalty decisions that aren’t given and these decisions cost games, so we’ve got to be in a position where we are really at the races, making good decisions, making sure the game flows in the right way. It’s not something I ever want to get into but today it’s been difficult from that side of things. Inconsistencies are a problem, that’s the biggest problem.”
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