Manchester City 1-2 Tottenham: ‘Literally two hands’ in Spurs winner says Gareth Taylor

Manchester City manager Gareth Taylor said it was “literally two hands” from Spurs forward Rosella Ayane which helped them grab a controversial late winner in the Women’s Super League.

City, who suffered their first league defeat at home since April 2018, had led through Lauren Hemp’s header.

Rachel Williams equalised before there was a clear handball from Ayane in the build-up to an 86th-minute winner.

“It’s pretty incredible that we’ve not had that chalked off,” said Taylor.

“We should have been out of sight by the time it gets to that and it should have been a consolation for them. But at the end of the day, it’s something we don’t want to happen.

“We want to improve the standards across the board. There were a few dodgy decisions tonight and that was certainly one of them.

“If the officials were to see that back, I’m pretty certain they would say the goal shouldn’t have stood. I don’t think it was one hand. It was literally two hands.”

Last weekend there were a number of controversial decisions in the WSL, with Taylor among those supporting the introduction of goalline technology and video assistant referees.

However, the City boss said officials “did not need the third eye” to see Ayane’s handball.

“It completely put Steph Houghton off clearing the ball. It doesn’t help us,” he added.

“We had it last season – the handball down at Chelsea that went against us, the penalty here against Chelsea that was never a penalty…

“We’re only in round two and there’s been some pretty contentious decisions that have happened in the game.”