Rehanne Skinner backs Ashleigh Neville to shrug off England omission

Tottenham manager Rehanne Skinner has backed in-form Ashleigh Neville to brush off her England snub by getting even better.

Lionesses boss Sarina Wiegman ignored the growing clamour for the Spurs player to be capped this week when she left Neville out of her 25-player squad for the internationals with Japan and Norway later in November.

Neville has scored four goals in all competitions for Tottenham this season and has arguably been one of the form players in the Women’s Super League during the past 12 months but continues to wait for a maiden England call-up.

Weigman acknowledged on Tuesday that the 29-year-old was “doing a real good job” but admitted others selected ahead of her were doing better.

“I think she is incredibly consistent in what she does,” Spurs head coach Skinner said of Neville.

“She knows exactly where she stands, what she offers and is able to focus on delivering that week in, week out, so I can only see her getting better and better because of the type of person she is, the way she works and the way she goes about everything within the club setting whether it is on or off the pitch.

“It was inevitable that given the character she has got, this is kind of what would happen and she is able to excel like this and long may it continue!”

Neville’s improvement during recent years has seen not only Spurs supporters call for her to earn England selection but rival fans too.

She reacted to missing out on this Lionesses squad by posting thanks on Twitter for the messages of support and insisted her focus would remain on Tottenham.

Skinner added: “Ash is a phenomenal person and it is a testament to type of person she is that she puts a tweet out like yesterday in association to the England squad.

“I think she is really loyal and really dedicated to the team. She is focused on doing what she needs to do in a club environment week in, week out and whatever evolves from that, evolves from that.

“She is really grateful for all the support that fans are giving across the game from other clubs. That is a testament to how fantastic she is playing and the person she is.

“Everyone can see how humble she is. She will keep doing what she is doing and at some point people have got to pay attention to that.”