Ahead of Tottenham Hotspur Ladies’ trip to the Select Car Leasing Stadium to take on Kelly Chambers’ struggling Reading in the Women’s Super League tomorrow, Rehanne Skinner (via Tottenham Hotspur) sat down before the club’s press officers to take them through the match and several issues of significance ahead of her side’s trip to Berkshire.
Firstly, Skinner spoke of the mood at Hotspur Way going into the encounter against the Royals, stating that her side are riding a wave of confidence following last weekend’s comprehensive victory over Coventry United, in which several fringe players impressed in rare outings:
“It’s a great win for us and I was really pleased with the squad that we managed to get out on the pitch that day to build everybody’s minutes and move things forward to the last few games of this half of the season. We’re in a good place and everybody was really positive after the game, especially after some of the goals we scored, which we were pleased with as well.
“It builds confidence and you get a bit of momentum. Winning breeds winning, so if you can get into a fluid state with that, that definitely helps. Every game we’re trying to do the same thing really so that’s the intent for this weekend.”
Ever level-headed, Skinner took a similar stance to her preview of last weekend’s match against Coventry United in warning her ladies of the dangers of reading too much into their last encounter against opposition that are inferior on paper.
Just as she warned Spurs not to take Coventry United for granted, Skinner was wary of letting October’s win over Reading at the Select Car Leasing Stadium get to the player’s head, citing Reading’s recent change of shape and the fact that the season is still in it relative infancy as good reasons for viewing the Royals with a fresh pair of eyes:
“Reading have changed their shape since that point and so there’s a slightly different structure in play, but I think in the early part of the season it’s always a little bit different when you play people early on until people find a bit of a rhythm. Hopefully we’re in a position where we’re finding a bit of ours and we can do enough to get a result out of the game.
“Reading are always resilient. They always want to get something out of the game and they don’t stop working until the end of games, so that’s something that everybody’s got to be mindful of when they play them. The biggest thing for us is to focus on what we want to get out of the game and the way that we want to go about it.
“The aim is to minimise their opportunities and play to our strengths and minimise theirs. Ultimately, on the day, we’ve got to make sure we’re at it for 90 minutes and it’s going to be a tough test. It’s something that we’re looking forward to, we want to get back on track in league games and that’s something that’s key to us leading up to the Christmas break. We’re going to be looking forward to the game.
“In terms of our mindset and approach to the games, that doesn’t change. As I mentioned, Reading have played a little bit differently of late, so naturally that changes some of the areas that we want to try to exploit and the things that we need to be mindful of, so tactically we’re approaching that slightly differently. Other than that, the mindset and desire to win the game is exactly the same.”
With regards to team news, Skinner did not exactly report a clean bill of health, but stated that there were no new injury concerns within the squad to contend with ahead of Sunday afternoon’s encounter. On the whole, she gave nothing away with regards to team selection:
“We’ve got a couple of sessions left, so as it stands today we’re looking pretty good, but we’re on the grass again today so we’ll see what evolves as the week goes on and hopefully we’ll be in a good place.”