Taylor cheers Man City Women's Aces' goal for injured girlfriend Jill Roord

GARETH TAYLOR says Manchester City players' moving tribute to Jill Roord was a lovely but unexpected surprise.

His side's 2-0 defeat to Tottenham saw them celebrate their opening match by holding up the midfielder's jersey days after her knee injury.

Lauren Hemp and her Man City teammates took the lead against Tottenham in the first half after an own goalCredit: Reuters

City players celebrated their opening in the twelfth minute, with Lauren Hemp holding up Jill Roord's shirtCredit: Reuters

Their victory at Tottenham came four days after Roord suffered a cruciate ligament injury during a game against Man UnitedCredit: Alamy

Sunday afternoon's away match for Taylor's side was the first match after Roord was confirmed to have suffered anterior cruciate ligament damage.

The injury to the player, who was a key figure in City's attack, occurred during her team's midweek defeat to Man United in the Conti Cup.

Despite her season being ended prematurely, Roord traveled with her teammates to watch them in action against sixth-placed Spurs.

Speaking about their waving tribute, Citizens boss Taylor said: “It surprised me. I didn't know anything about it.

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“It says a lot about Jill that she traveled with us and wanted to come along.

“Also the fact that we have seen such brilliant play from her this season and have made a flying start. A lot of credit has to go to the players.

“It was a really nice touch and really nice for Jill to be there today to experience that.”

In the clash between Tottenham and Man City, Khadija 'Bunny' Shaw managed to achieve her thirteenth^e goal in 11 WSL matches.

And the clinical finish saw the Jamaican ace extend her lead at the top of this season's WSL top scorers list by one goal.

Taylor added: “Bunny always gets opportunities because this team is good at creating. She understands and realizes that.

“The thing about Bunny is she will always score goals. We see that.

“What impresses me most is her energy and work rate, the way she presses without the ball.

“She's just such a tough player to play against and she's done fantastically well for us. I think that was her 50^e appearance and hair 42^NL goal. That is phenomenal.”

Khadija Shaw's second-half goal gave Man City a 2-0 leadCredit: Reuters

Spurs' last game with Man City ended with a 7-0 defeat away to the wrong side of City last November.

But the North London side were tighter defensively this time.

The visitors got off to a solid start with dominating ball possession and attacking opportunities.

Captain Alex Greenwood forced a class diving save from Barbora Votikova with a free kick in the seventh minute.

And it took just five minutes before the deadlock was inadvertently broken via Tottenham's Amy Turner.

The defender turned the ball into her own net after Lauren Hemp swept in a throw intended for Shaw to give the visitors the lead.

The 12th minute opener was followed by Hemp and her colleagues running to the dugout to celebrate with Roord.

And away fans chanted “there's only one Jill Roord” shortly after her teammates held up her number 20 shirt.

Spurs thought they had leveled just before the half-hour mark, moments after Laura Coombs scored a shot at the other end.

Martha Thomas got behind the visitors' backline and fired past keeper Khiara Kheating before sprinting away to celebrate.

But the home team's joy was short-lived: the goal was disallowed for offside.

In the first minute of the second half, Filippa Angeldahl came close and shot narrowly wide for City.

Shaw gave them a 2–0 lead after combining with Hemp and scoring her twelfth league goal of the season in the 51st league match.^st minute.

The hosts tried to find a late consolation when Bethany England drove into the penalty area around the 83 mark^rd minute.

But the shot for the Spurs captain, who was given a work of art of herself in action to mark her 150 appearances against Tottenham, was fired straight at Keating.

While City held on to keep pace with Chelsea who cut the lead to three points, Tottenham gave a good account of themselves despite the 2-0 defeat.

Head coach Vilahamn said: “We have made progress and are better defenders.

“But I think it also shows that we are on a journey and we are not yet there to compete with the best teams in this competition.

Bethany England made a comfortable save from Khiara Keating with her late goalCredit: Reuters

“Man City are absolutely brilliant in the way they play and they have been playing with this team for a while.

“It was a bit difficult because we wanted to make sure that we defended well with this team and had a good plan, but that (opening) goal costs us energy.

“We're still trying to beat them, but I think we'll be better prepared next year.”