Rehanne Skinner was left frustrated as West Ham United women's team weren't able to take points from a frantic Barclays Women's Super League defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday evening.
The match finished 4-3 in favour of the north London outfit, and it meandered throughout the near 100 minutes of action at Chigwell Construction Stadium.
The Hammers gave absolutely everything in blustery conditions as Storm Isha impacted the contest, but Jessica Naz would net the seventh and final goal on 75 minutes to seal the win for the away side.
Robert Vilahamn's side opened the scoring through Grace Clinton, before Risa Shimizu netted her first goal on Claret & Blue on 35 minutes to bring the game level. However, Celin Bizet would then strike on the counter attack to give Spurs the lead at the break.
Things got worse for the Irons as Clinton added her second. Her strike flew into the bottom corner, beyond an obstructed Arnold, who's sightline looked to be affected by an opposition player.
Skinner's side hit back, as Viviane Asseyi and Amber Tysiak both scored, pulling the game back to 3-3, before Naz sneaked in a strike beyond Mackenzie Arnold to ultimately win a breathtaking contest in east London.
The Hammers boss was frustrated by decisions that went against her side during the game, and also praised the performance from her players in difficult conditions.
I’m proud of my players today.
The way that we went about the game, the way that we played and showed resilience, grit, determination, as well as quality on the ball, I think it’s all a massive testament to the progress that we’ve made.
The result is disappointing for everybody because the players have given their heart and soul out on the pitch. I thought we did really well in terms of how we managed the opposition and how we limited their opportunities. Unfortunately, a couple of clearances dropped onto the edge of our box, and it’s very difficult for Macca [Mackenzie Arnold] in those scenarios.
We have a massive positive in that we scored three goals today, coming from behind on a couple of occasions, which shows the desire and the attitude of the players. I’m really proud of them today.
There’s positives to take out of the game, once again.
I genuinely think we’ve got better and better at the resilience and our mindset going into games has definitely improved. I think we’ve learned a lot from the first half of the season, when things have gone our way and maybe haven’t, and we have to be able to be resilient in those moments.
But for the whole match today, we stayed the course and we kept to our gameplan and got ourselves back into the game. Even after the fourth goal went in for Spurs, we dominated, hit the post and should have got an equaliser.
There are so many positives to take out of the game, but it’s literally just a couple of things that we’ve got to cut out that don’t give people the sort of chances that ended up as goals tonight.
Frankly we’ve not been helped out by the referee today. The third goal shouldn’t have counted. It’s clear that there was a player impeding Mackenzie, so that’s a difficult one to take as well.
Our new signings are helping us on and off the pitch.
That's a reason why brought senior players in to add experience, leadership and quality to the team. You can see it in the way to Mini [Katrina Gorry] moves across the pitch, creating problems for teams on and off the ball.
Kristie [Mewis] got 30 minutes today, which is positive for her. Straightaway, you can see the quality that she has playing forward and the options that she creates for us.
All of the new signings have been huge assets, and that’s on top of the players that have worked hard to keep improving over the course of the season.
Wednesday is another opportunity to get minutes and keep us moving towards where we want to end up in the league.
The big thing is that we keep trying to make sure that the new players are gelled within the team and fit in as quickly as possible. They’ve done that and they’re working really hard.
Next week, we’ve got Bristol City, and so we keep chipping away at how we progress in developing the best way possible to prepare for that game.
