Manchester City manager Gareth Taylor insists his team’s season ‘will not be defined’ by their defeat to Chelsea on Sunday.

City were handed their first loss of the Women’s Super League season as they were beaten 3-1 by their title rivals at Kingsmeadow.

And while Taylor admits his side failed to play their best football, he also feels the scoreline was a harsh reflection of the game.

"I thought 3-1 was a little bit flattering for them," he told the club website. "There were some small margins out there. I felt we weren't quite at our best. We had decent spells and played some good moments but we were a little slow to second balls.

"Their third goal was a killer. Before that, I thought it was really tight. We were looking at various types of ways of building up against them. I don't think we got caught out by playing out – that was the way for us to play; that's where we had success.

"I felt at times we got the balance right but we struggled a little bit to get quality in behind with forward runs and forward balls."

Taylor’s team are now fifth in the WSL table with seven points from four games, five points adrift of Arsenal at the top.

But despite the gap that others are already building on them, he refuses to accept the Chelsea defeat will shape the rest of their campaign.

"Time will tell whether it's decisive in the title race," he added.

"This won’t define our season. It may have an effect in terms of points and the outcome but we still have lot of big games and important teams to play.

"We've seen already a high level of competition and teams will take points off one another. We need to keep positive and maintain focus. We’ll look at our performance and see where we can improve on the training pitch."