Spurs 0-1 Chelsea (WSL) | Robert’s verdict: “I thought the girls were brilliant” | OneFootball

Robert Vilahamn felt his players were ‘brave’ against one of the top sides in the league despite being defeated 1-0 by Chelsea in the Barclays Women’s Super League on Wednesday evening.

Similar to our previous meeting with the Blues in the season-opener back in October, we produced a much-improved second half performance after finding ourselves behind in the first half at Brisbane Road as Maika Hamano converted Guro Reiten’s cross.

We played with higher intensity after the restart and had a glorious opportunity to grab a leveller minutes into the second half as Luana Buhler had an effort blocked before Ashleigh Neville on the rebound, in and around the six-yard box, lifted the ball over the bar.

Although we couldn’t find the equaliser in the end, Robert told SPURSPLAY that he was pleased with the performance from the players.

"I have always tried to reflect on the game without the result, just look at the performance, first of all, and I thought the girls were brilliant, we played some really good football, dared to play out and dared to play through the lines, we created a few chances, not too many, but a few chances,” he said.

“The main thing in the second half was that we were brave on the ball and dared to play out, so I’m very proud of how we do that because we are bouncing back from the final, obviously we are losing in the game and we don’t create enough good chances, so that’s where we need to improve.

“On the other hand, this is a top four team in the world we have played against and looked that good against them, so I still need to be proud. They should have been very tired, but they kept playing and I loved that.

“We, next year, want to win this game so we need to look at how we can break them down more and be a little sharper in the last third.”

It's another quick turnaround as we return to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday (3pm UK) to face West Ham United in our final game of the season – tickets remain available to buy – and Robert is looking forward to being back in N17.

“I love being at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and I want to play in front of our fans, make sure we finish this season in a good way with them, hopefully, with a win and playing really good football so they can enjoy it and, I think, the players deserve to have the last game there as they have had a great season.”

Watch - Vilahamn delighted with bravery shown despite defeat to Chelsea