Khadija Shaw believes hard graft was the secret to her goalscoring heroics as she bagged a hat-trick in Manchester City's 7-0 win over Tottenham.

The City forward scored all three of her goals in the first half of a victory that sees her team stay third in the Women's Super League.

But she insists that those strikes were a consequence of running hard throughout the game.

She said: "For me, being the front runner, I want to work as hard as I can for the team and the important thing is to get three points on the board.

"I try to work hard and do the little bits in and around my position.

"Me and Lauren Hemp work a lot on the training pitch and we communicate. I am used to where she is going to put the ball but all of that is about the training pitch.

"I try to get across the face of the goal and I try do the best I can."

Backing up last week's 3-1 Manchester derby win was vital for City, who are three points behind second-place Arsenal and six behind leaders Chelsea.

And Shaw, 26, thinks her team are in a good place.

She said: "It was a good feeling coming into this game. 

"At half-time we talked about pressing on and keeping momentum.

"We wanted to be clinical and we wanted to score as many goals as possible. We scored the goals and got the win."

City host Aston Villa in their next match after the international break.