WSL Matchday 12 round-up: Vilahamn admits Spurs still not at City's level

Mitchell Fretton

LiveScore

Manchester City proved too strong for Tottenham this weekend

Robert Vilahamn accepts Tottenham are still not at Manchester City's level after his side were beaten 2-0 by the Women's Super League high-fliers.

A Khadija Shaw strike followed Amy Turner's early own goal to help Gareth Taylor's visitors take all three points at Brisbane Road and stay within three points of leaders Chelsea.

Vilahamn, 41, felt his side took a huge stride forward from the reverse fixture — where they were thumped 7-0 — but accepted there was still a gulf in class between the two teams.

He said: "We have shown progress and were better defenders today, but I think it also shows we are on a journey and we are not there yet to compete with the best teams in this league.

"Manchester City are absolutely brilliant in how they play and they have played for a while with this team.

"It was a little bit tricky because we wanted to make sure we defend well with this team and have a good plan, but [their first goal] loses energy for us.

"We are still on a journey to beat them but I think next year we will be more ready."

Toot your Bjorn

Chelsea star Nathalie Bjorn says some honest words at half-time inspired the Blues to victory against a plucky Brighton side.

A second-half Lauren James brace either side of Fran Kirby's header eventually gave Emma Hayes' champions an important victory after the champions spurned a string of chances in the opening period.

January signing Bjorn, 26, started alongside Jess Carter at centre-back and kept her first clean sheet since joining from Everton earlier in the month.

The versatile Swede said: "It was tough and I don't think we played our best in the first half but we stuck together as a team, kept a clean sheet and scored three goals. So overall, we're really happy.

"We spoke at half-time about how we needed to up our levels, because we just felt in the first half we weren't quite at our usual standards.

"Sometimes you have games like that and you just have to work even harder."

Ward's wisdom

Rachel Daly scored from the spot for Aston Villa

Carla Ward insists Aston Villa were the better side in the second half of their frustrating 2-1 defeat to Manchester United.

The Villans have now lost all four of their away WSL matches against the Red Devils but threatened Mary Earps' goal several times both before and after Rachel Daly's 60th-minute penalty.

She told the BBC: "It was a tale of two halves. We probably showed them a little bit too much respect in the first half.

"I thought we dominated the second half and were the better team. If we can continue to perform in the way we are we will continue to climb up the table.

"My girls were outstanding and deserve a huge amount of credit and we probably did deserve a point. We've got to continue working hard."