READING FC WOMEN’s manager Kelly Chambers has admitted that the Royals’ must win against Tottenham Hotspur to have any chance of surviving in the Women’s Super League.
The Royals currently occupy bottom place in the WSL having won just three of their 20 fixtures.
They sit two points behind Leicester City, who have a game in hand on Wednesday night at Chelsea and three points behind Tottenham.
Reading’s next challenge against Spurs on Sunday, May 20 has now become a vital fixture for the future of the club.
“There’s no hiding that we need to get three points against Tottenham or we’re pretty much done,” said Chambers.
“We then have to rely on results to go our way until the end of the season.
“We’ve got two weeks to prepare. The players took accountability for their performance (against Villa) and that they need to deliver when it comes to a game day.
“It’s alright saying it then, but we’re all in it together. It’s a case of knowing what we need to do going forward to be at our peak come the Tottenham game.”
Reading are the only club in the WSL who aren’t backed by a men’s Premier League side and Chambers believes that they are facing a huge challenge given the investment that other teams have had.
She continued: “To be brutally honest, we were always going to be a club that we’re going to fall down a little bit because of the investment we have. We don’t have the investment to build.
“You look at the January transfer window that Brighton and Leicester had. We can’t do that. We don’t have the funds to bring in the players that they did.
“Their improvement in January has been huge. The club does support us but in terms of where the women’s game is going, to compete with those teams, we are sitting four times under what the next team are putting in so it’s a big challenge.
“If we can’t keep up with that then to a certain extent there’s only one outcome.
“We’ve shown over the last few years it’s been the same and some people will say we’ve punched above our weight and that’s down to the players we’ve had and the coaching and the amount of work that goes in.”
“The women’s game, even at Championship level, you can’t get away with not being a professional outfit.
“We have a set up here and a really good infrastructure.
“Is there more that I want in terms of supporting the staff and the players? Yes 100%.
“If we were to get relegated, the ambition is to bounce straight back up.”
