Spurs suffered their second consecutive defeat in the FA Women’s Championship last weekend

Tottenham Hotspur Ladies manager Karen Hills insisted her team will not dwell on Sunday’s 5-1 home loss to Manchester United Women.

The two title rivals in the FA Women’s Championship went head-to-head at Cheshunt FC’s Theobalds Lane, but the final outcome was one-sided.

Spurs, in front of a record home crowd of 1,607, failed to recover from two early goals by United’s Katie Zelem.

Jenna Schillaci pulled one back with 35 on the clock, but Mollie Green made the game safe for the visitors early in the second half and the Red Devils cruised home after.

Hills said: “A 5-1 score is not the greatest reflection of the game. For us it was about trying to stay in the game and unfortunately that game plan went out of the window early on – conceding two early goals is always going to put you on the back-foot.

“The girls regrouped and getting that goal before half-time was positive and we went in at the break knowing we still had a chance.

“Then we conceded early again – that was a sucker punch for us – and then you’re coming up against a full-time team, you’re 3-1 down and swimming against the tide.

“We’re not going to dwell on it, we just have to move on, remain positive and go back into training.

“We’ve got three really important games coming up and we’ll be back stronger.”

After captain Schillaci had scored in the 35th minute for Spurs, home fans hoped there would be a comeback.

Half time came too soon for the Lilywhites, though, and Green’s goal with 47 played was a bitter pill to swallow.

Despite continuing to work hard, Tottenham conceded twice more inside the final nine minutes with United ace Jess Sigsworth making it 4-1.

Leah Galton then added a touch of gloss to the scoreline with a fifth for the visitors in the 87th minute.

Tottenham defender Reneé Hector added: “We ended the first-half really well and I thought we were on top.

“We didn’t want the first-half to end, but then it was obviously quite difficult when it went to 3-1.

“They’re a very good side, although I think a few of the goals we conceded could have been avoided.

“At the end of the day, it’s a learning curve and we’ll go back to the drawing board, look at what happened and try and eradicate that for next time.

“It’s definitely not over and we may have made it slightly more difficult for ourselves, but I have every confidence in this team and we’ll fight until the end.”

Tottenham remain second in the table, but trail United by four points now and are only four ahead of third-placed Durham Women, who have a game in hand on Spurs.