West Ham United women’s team defender Kirsty Smith felt only pride and says it was an incredible feeling to score in the Hammers’ 2-1 Subway® Women’s League Cup quarter-final victory over Tottenham Hotspur.
The 31-year-old displayed her versatility—initially fielded at right-back, she was subsequently used at left-back in the wake of making her 50th Barclays Women’s Super League appearance in Claret and Blue on Sunday, and marked the landmark by netting the Hammers’ second goal en route to a memorable night at Gaughan Group Stadium.
A crazy opening 45 minutes saw Martha Thomas hand the hosts a tenth-minute lead, but we fought back, and after Seraina Piubel restored parity, a rocket from Smith completed a sensational first-half turnaround to book our ticket into the semi-finals, where we will take on last year’s runners-up, Chelsea.
“I'm so proud of the team and the performance we put in tonight,” Smith beamed. “We worked together as a team and got the result we deserved.
“It shows the depth we've got in the squad, and I'm proud of all the girls that were on the pitch tonight and the ones that came on. We really fought for that, and we deserve to be in the semi-final.
“I just want the team to be winning. I'm so proud of the girls tonight. It was a fantastic atmosphere here as well. It's always great with away fans, and it was a big boost for us on the pitch. It always gives you that extra motivation to go on and win for them as well.”
The Scotland international expressed her delight after getting her name on the scoresheet for the first time since October 2023 and jokingly refuted claims that her stunning long-range strike goal was accidental.
Smith curled a spectacular 30-yard effort past Tottenham goalkeeper Eleanor Heeps to complete the Hammers’ rapid turnaround and almost added her second minutes later.
“I'm going to pretend I meant it,” said Smith. “I was just trying to put the ball in the box, and it was on target, and it went in, so I'll take that.
“It would have been surprising if I scored two [goals] in one game, but I’m just proud of the team and the result we got, and I'm really proud to score goals.”
