Watford Ladies boss Armand Kavaja refused to criticise his players after they suffered a 6-0 drubbing at Tottenham Hotspur in Women’s Super League 2 last night.

Sarah Wiltshire scored a hat-trick against her former club as the knock-on effects continue to be felt of sister club Watford's decision not to apply for the Ladies to become a full-time outfit in the revamped WSL structure next season, but to remain as a part-time side and drop down to the third tier of the women's game.

Several players have followed former head coach Keith Boanas in leaving the club following the decision and his successor admitted: "I can't really ask much more from the players - half of them are development team players.

"We've been here for a month now and we're trying to rebuild. They're 16 or 17 years old and they're not quite ready for this level just yet. It was a tough night.

"We've prepared hard in training and we'll do what we can and focus on ourselves because that's mainly what's causing us problems at the moment."

Tottenham's first goal arrived after 19 minutes when Coral-Jane Haines' long pass put Wiltshire in behind and she struck a superb shot that dipped over Fran Kitching and into the top corner.

Spurs' lead was doubled when Lucia Leon swivelled to score into an empty net after Samantha Hallsworth had attempted to cut out Ashleigh Neville's low cross from the right.

With the final act of the opening half, the hosts were 3-0 ahead when Wiltshire was on hand to tap in at the back post after Bianca Baptiste's teasing cross had just evaded Leon.

It took eight minutes of the second half for Wiltshire to complete her hat-trick, as she finished first-time into the bottom corner after another fine ball by Haines had run loose.

The victory was rounded off with two confident finishes from the impressive Baptiste in one-on-one situations in the final four minutes.

The Hornets’ next game is at home to Sheffield on Sunday, March 4 and Kavaja said: "We've got to bring the players up again for the Sheffield game, but we've got to be realistic.

"The rest of the teams that we've been playing against are very good, but we're giving away goals because of a lack of experience and lack of playing time at this level for most of the players.

"We'll be watching Sheffield and every team in this division is good. We're working really hard to get the players to the required level, but it's hard for me in every game."

Watford Ladies: Kitching; Kerr (Afuakwah 46), Hallsworth, McShane, Gregoriou (Dench 77); Fatuga-Dada (O’Halloran 66), Nuttall, Bell, Hill, Huggins; Ward. Subs not used: Baranowska, Dickens.