England’s governing Football Association is to investigate allegations of “monkey noises” made towards Tottenham Hotspur Ladies defender Renee Hector by an unnamed Sheffield United player.

Hector said the incident took place during Spurs’ 2-1 win away to the Blades on Sunday in the FA Women’s Championship, the division below the elite Women’s Super League.

“Such a shame that racism seems to be rising up again in football – I received some monkey noises today from an opposition player,” the 23-year-old Hector tweeted after the match.

“The only reaction was to let the football do the talking and that we did, great start to the year!”

The FA later tweeted that it was “aware of an allegation of discriminatory abuse” during the match.

“We take all allegations of discrimination very seriously and will be making enquiries into the matter,” it added.

Tottenham said Hector reported the incident to the referee during the game.

“The club is aware of allegations of racial abuse made by Renee Hector following (Sunday’s) victory at Sheffield United Women, that were reported to the referee by the player during the match,” a Spurs statement confirmed.

“We have since reported the alleged incident to the FA and await their response. We shall be making no further comment on the allegations at this time.”

‘Thorough investigation’

Sheffield United said it was aware of the allegations made on social media following the fixture.

“We can advise that the club is conducting a thorough investigation into this matter,” it said.

Victory saw Spurs move to within a point of second-division leaders Manchester United.

Recent racist events in English football have centred on supporters turning on non-white male players, although Luis Suarez, then of Liverpool, was given an eight-game ban for racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra during a match in 2011.

In December, Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling, speaking after alleged racist abuse by a Chelsea fan at Stamford Bridge, said the media needed to examine the way it reported stories about certain black players.

Last month also saw a Tottenham fan fined and given a four-year football banning order by a court for throwing a banana skin at Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang during a 4-2 north London derby defeat at the Gunners’ Emirates Stadium.