Tottenham Hotspur joint-boss ‘pleased and proud’ of derby performance

Tottenham Hotspur joint-manager Karen Hills has declared herself ‘pleased and proud’ of her side’s performance against Arsenal, a game which Spurs lost 2-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this afternoon.

Spurs expertly executed their game plan for 65 minutes against the FA Women’s Super League champions before The Gunners’ class eventually came through as goals from Kim Little and Vivianne Miedema put them to the sword.

Speaking in the post-match press conference, Spurs joint-manager Hills hailed her side’s overall performance in-front of the league’s all-time record crowd of 38,262.

“I thought we held our own out there today and we were unfortunate not to come in at half-time 1-0 up” Hills said.

“We are disappointed not to get the three points because that is what it is all about but Arsenal are champions for a reason.

“While we are very disappointed, we are very proud and pleased with every single one of our players.”

Spurs striker Kit Graham spurned a guilt-edged opportunity to put her side ahead in the first 20 minutes only to shoot straight at visiting keeper Manuela Zinsberger and joint-manager Hills highlighted the importance of that moment.

She added “It is small margins. You’ve got to put your chances away when you’ve worked so hard to create them.

“In those key moments, it comes down to your self-belief and today the ball wasn’t to go in and it was a missed opportunity for us.”

The occasion was the third time this season which Spurs played in-front of a crowd of over 20,000 and Hills added that she believed that her side did everything in their power to impress.

“We’ve had the opportunity to play at Stamford Bridge and the opportunity to play at the London Stadium where we have been the underdogs and today, with a big crowd behind us, I think we managed the occasion really well” said the Spurs joint-boss.

“We had 38,000 people behind us, we felt the energy and as I have said, we are really pleased and proud of every single one of them, we are just disappointed that we could not get anything out of the game.”

Tottenham Hotspur return to action on Wednesday evening when they travel to Chelsea in the FA Women’s Continental League Cup.