Rehanne’s verdict on Club America: “The response was fantastic”

Rehanne Skinner was pleased with the response her players showed following difficult beginnings for us at the Women’s Cup on Sunday night.

Facing a Club America side in our opening game who are already seven games into their league campaign in Mexico, their match sharpness showed from the off in the contest as they flew out of the traps in Louisville, racing into a 2-0 lead inside the first 15 minutes.

Despite falling behind though, we responded well and, after managing to quell the tenacity of America's frontline, we grew into the match and began to put our stamp on proceedings before Nikola Karczewska got up and running in Lilywhite with a fine finish on 64 minutes, reducing the deficit.

Displaying great fight and character, we battled right until the end for a leveller, but it just wasn’t to be our night at the Lynn Family Stadium as our Mexican opponents held on for the win. In pre-season, however, performances are the focus, and Rehanne felt there were plenty of positives to take there, especially from the second 45 minutes.

“I thought we took too long to get into the game and, obviously, with the stage we are at in pre-season, we made quite a few sloppy mistakes,” our Head Coach reflected. “Those mistakes led to goals and, off the back of that, that made life a little bit difficult for us but, when we got to the water break and we changed a few things around, I think that allowed us to get into the game a little bit better and then we managed the play up until half-time.

“The response second half was fantastic so that is a real positive to take from it. I think that’s what we have come to expect as Tottenham Hotspur – we don’t give up and we make sure we are fighting right until the very end because nothing else is acceptable. I’m really pleased that we showed that at the end. The substitutes came on and obviously Celin (Bizet) and Nikky (Nikola Karczewska) linked up for the goal and potentially could have had another one, so there were some definite benefits in the second half.

“We want to make sure we’re in a position where we’re being exposed to different things, we’re having to solve different problems and we’re having to find solutions. We have to learn to be resilient for the league and that is what we’re building towards on this tour and in this tournament.”

Rehanne on SPURSPLAY