Tottenham Women lost 3-0 against second in the league Man City Women, at The Hive on Sunday.

The opening goal for the visitors was an own goal from Spurs goalkeeper, Rebecca Spencer in the first five minutes of the game.

Rehanne Skinner, Tottenham’s manager, explained the downfall of the home side: “We needed to start the game a lot quicker than when we did.”

“It’s taking us too long to get into a game.”

The home side had no shots on target, with the away side having four and they made it 2-0 going into the second half.

Skinner described the frustration of their training practice not providing success on the pitch: “We’ve worked really hard on the press all week which has been excellent and then we don’t transfer it into the start of the game on a Sunday…it just can’t happen.”

Tottenham forward, Lucy Quinn, echoed Skinner’s point and the difficulty of playing a team in the top three of the league: “It’s a tough game…a team with so much quality and we had to show in spells, what we’re about in difficult circumstances with not having a lot of the ball.”

Spurs only had 38% possession, but Quinn described how great it felt to be back in the starting line-up: “It’s tough. Every player wants to play but at this level the squad is filled with talented players.”

The loss keeps Tottenham eighth in the league as they go into next week’s third round FA Cup game, away to Reading Women.

Skinner and Quinn both described their feelings towards the FA Cup tie to a side they drew against in the middle of March: “It’s always a good competitive game against Reading,”

“The FA Cup is a fantastic competition where neither team has anything to lose,” Quinn said.

“I think it’ll be a really tough battle,” Skinner described as she prepares her side for her first FA Cup game in charge of the North London side, where she hopes to come away with a win."