Liverpool 1-0 West Ham United women's team
Barclays Women's Super League, The Totally Wicked Stadium, Sunday 2 February 2025, 2pm GMT
West Ham United women’s team battled with resilience on Merseyside but unfortunately slipped to a 1-0 defeat at Liverpool in the Barclays Women’s Super League on Sunday.
It was former Hammer Leanne Kiernan whose goal was the difference between the two teams, as her flicked effort in the 33rd minute found its way past Irons goalkeeper Kinga Szemik.
Prior to the goal, West Ham had asserted control on the contest, with Viviane Asseyi and Shekiera Martinez both going close with acrobatic and headed efforts respectively.
But the best chance for Rehanne Skinner’s side fell to Riko Ueki right at the death, but she could not turn the ball home from inside the six-yard box in second-half stoppage time.
The game was in need of a spark after a relatively uneventful opening 20 minutes, and Asseyi almost gave West Ham lift off with a spectacular acrobatic effort, but her strike landed on the roof of the net via a bounce into the ground.
Looking to score in back-to-back WSL matches, Martinez was lively in the first half, sending a low effort at Teegan Micah’s goal before flashing a near-post header from a corner just wide of the mark.
However, against the run of play, it was Liverpool who broke the deadlock as Ceri Holland’s low cross was diverted past Szemik with a deft touch from Kiernan midway through the first period.
The hosts went close to doubling their advantage in first-half stoppage time, but Grace Fisk glanced Marie Höbinger’s corner narrowly past the post.
A set-piece examination of the Hammers’ defence was the first clear-cut opportunity Liverpool had in the second period, this time it was Jenna Clark who rose highest, but her towering header bounced wide of Szemik’s right-hand post.
The hosts kept pressing to double their advantage and the crossbar kept the score to 1-0, as Taylor Hinds ghosted in at the back post to sidefoot the ball onto the woodwork.
The Hammers put sustained pressure on their opponents in the second period through a flurry of corners and substitute Princess Ademiluyi, playing her first minutes in Claret and Blue this season, almost connected with Manuela Paví’s delivery, but her volleyed strike was hit into the ground.
This came moments after Ueki guided an effort from the left corner of the penalty area just wide of the top-right corner. The Japan international then had a golden chance to level the contest in the first minute of second-half injury time, but the striker, slightly off balance, struck the ball from close range over the crossbar.
Unfortunately for the Hammers, they were unable to find the all-important equaliser, but will have to take the positives from the performance as they gear up for a Subway® Women’s League Cup semi-final showdown with Chelsea on Wednesday.
Liverpool: Micah, Parry (Daniels 64), Fisk, Clark, Evans, Hinds ©, Kerr (Nagano 75), Höbinger (Bartel 58), Holland, O.Smith, Kiernan (Román Haug 64)
Subs not used: Laws (GK), Kapocs, Enderby, Bonner, Shaw
Goal: Kiernan 33
Booked: O.Smith
West Ham United: Szemik, Denton (Smith 52), Nyström, Zadorsky, Hanshaw, Siren (Brynjarsdóttir 68), Gorry ©, Asseyi (Ademiluyi 84), Ueki, Piubel, (Paví 68) Martinez
Subs not used: M. Walsh (GK), Mengwen, Sáez, Bergman Lundin, Harries
Booked: Siren
Referee: Amy Fearn
Attendance: 3,166
Skinner: I think the players worked incredibly hard from start to finish
Rehanne Skinner hailed the effort levels of her side against Liverpool and felt they deserved something out of the game.
The Hammers put the pressure on the hosts for large parts of the contest and forced a plethora of set pieces towards the end of the game, but unfortunately could not find a breakthrough.
White admitting her team could have been more clinical, the manager stated there are plenty of positives to take into the Subway® Women’s League Cup semi-final with Chelsea.
I thought we deserved a bit more out of the game.
I think the players worked incredibly hard from start to finish. Everybody contributed really well, and I thought we created a lot of good opportunities in the final third. I think in the second half they barely had a shot on goal.
I just don't think we were as ruthless to get balls into the box when we had opportunities to do that, and to really test their defence as much as we could have.
In the last ten minutes, we looked like we were going to score, the players were still continuing to fight right until the end.
I actually thought we were going to get one out of it based on the balance of play. So it's disappointing to not get on the score sheet today. I think I thought we deserved a bit more out of the game, but we just have to be more ruthless around the box.
We were defensively very good today.
Defensively, I thought we were really good today and we just didn't give them a lot of room to breathe. When we started to be a bit more confident and press a bit higher, I thought we caused them a lot of problems and turnovers worked in our favour.
I think we could have taken more chances today. It's the bottom line and we haven't. And that's definitely got to be a bit of a mentality shift going into Wednesday.
Eva was fantastic on her debut.
I thought she [Eva Nyström] did a fantastic job. We've been watching her for a long time and we knew her style of play. She's fitted in brilliantly. I thought she was really resilient at the back. She's strong, she's athletic, she's really hard to deal with, she plays off both feet.
She's going to be an attribute for us in possession as well as out of possession. So on her debut away from home in a tough game, it's a fantastic performance in her first game for the Club.
We want to keep getting Princess involved.
She's [Princess Ademiluyi] a talented young player. She's still got a lot to learn. We know that, but she's going to start to get more and more experience as time goes on. And we want to make sure that we keep evolving that in the right way.
When she came on the pitch, she created a problem straight away and got us a corner really early. It's important to keep bringing her on so that she gains that experience and can be that effective for us more often.
There are positives to take into Wednesday.
There are loads of different parts of today that I thought we played well. As I say, we just didn't quite get the goal that we really should have. I think that'll take us into Wednesday more positive. We've got a semi-final, which is huge for us, and that's something really positive.
It's a tough game against Chelsea. We know that they're obviously a really strong side, but we've got nothing to lose. We want to go and try and get the Club into a final.
Nyström: It was nice to make my debut for the Club
Despite the result against Liverpool, Eva Nyström was delighted to make her debut for West Ham United.
The centre-back played all 90 minutes of the WSL fixture, her first in England’s top flight, and was part of a defence that limited the Reds to very few sights at goal.
The Finland international lined up alongside Anouk Denton, Shelina Zadorsky and Verena Hanshaw, and felt assured in the Hammers’ backline.
“It was nice to make my debut for the Club,” said the 25-year-old. “I've been waiting for this for a long time, so it was nice.
“It has been a dream for me to play in this league and I'm finally here, so I'm really happy to be here and excited to keep on working.
“I think we worked really hard and got them away from our box, so I think we worked well as a defensive unit. I'm happy to be here and work with these girls. I have been settling in well and I'm happy to be here and work with the team.”
Skinner said the side can take plenty of positives from the game into their Subway® Women’s League Cup semi-final against Chelsea, and Nyström echoed the views of her manager.
She said: “I felt we had a lot of chances today and we should have scored one of those, so we have to take that with us into the next game.”
