Manchester City 3–1 Tottenham Hotspur on 5 March 2023

We were beaten 3-1 in the Women's Super League by Manchester City at The Academy Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Celin Bizet scored her first goal for Spurs just beyond the half-hour mark at the end of a brilliant counter-attacking move, but Khadija Shaw equalised on the brink of half-time before netting her brace from the spot at the beginning of the second 45. Shaw scored again with less than ten minutes remaining, getting on the end of a Lauren Hemp cross.

Rehanne Skinner made one change to the side that began last weekend's Vitality Women's FA Cup game against Reading, Rosella Ayane starting ahead of Asmita Ale. Drew Spence was awarded her 150th appearance in the Women's Super League.

We weathered a storm of pressure from Man City early on, Hemp's cross volleyed wide by Shaw, who then received the ball from Alex Greenwood and struck wide of the bottom right corner, before Laura Coombs shot straight at Tinja-Riikka Korpela and Hemp fired wide from long range all inside the first ten minutes.

Chloe Kelly came closest for the hosts, cutting in from the left wing and curling just wide of the far post on her right foot.

Leila Ouahabi saw her effort go high and wide as she was closed down by Spence, and Molly Bartrip put in an important block to prevent Kelly from finding the bottom left corner.

We broke away as Ashleigh Neville crossed for Rosella Ayane. She went down under pressure from Ouahabi and asked for a penalty, but the referee wasn't convinced.

Beginning to grow into the game with more of the ball in City's half, Neville played the ball over the top to Nikola Karczewska, who allowed it to bounce before shooting wide of the post.

It was on the counter-attack that we found the opening goal of the game in style. Following a couple of tidy one-twos on the right wing between Spence and Bizet, the ball was played inside to Angharad James, who switched it out to Neville on the left. Surging forward, she put the perfect weight on the pass for Ayane to cross into the box. The delivery evaded everybody except Bizet who, at the far post, simply cushioned it into the roof of the net for 1-0 and her first goal for Spurs.

Towards the interval, Korpela produced a string of excellent saves to hold onto the clean sheet, stopping Shaw from close range and getting down well to catch a powerful attempt from Kelly.

As it looked like we'd go into the break with the lead, City put the ball back into the box and this time Shaw was able to steer it into the back of the net with her head to equalise.

At the beginning of the second half, Neville pulled down Kelly in the penalty area and Shaw placed it into the bottom right corner from the penalty spot.

We had a good chance to equalise as Ayane played an excellent one-two with Spence before breaking through on goal. Her shot was saved by Ellie Roebuck and Karczewska shot over on the rebound before Ayane was replaced by Kit Graham.

Kelly volleyed wide from a Hemp cross as the home side pushed for a more comfortable lead, but we kept the deficit to one with 20 minutes remaining. Kelly's cross then hit Kerys Harrop, forcing good reflexes from Korpela to tip the ball round the near post.

Shaw made it 3-1 with less than ten minutes remaining, getting on the end of a cross from Hemp before So-hyun Cho, on as a substitute for Spence and making her 50th WSL appearance, headed wide at the other end.

Kelly forced a flying save from Korpela in the dying embers as City continued to put the pressure on. Bizet fired wide from the right and the referee blew for full-time.