West Ham United women’s team manager Rehanne Skinner hailed the collective effort of the fans and the team that helped push her side to their first Barclays Women’s Super League victory of the campaign.
Viviane Asseyi’s composed finish in first-half stoppage time earned the Hammers a 1-0 success at home to Leicester City in a contest that the Irons dominated, creating an abundance of chances and limiting the visitors to few sights at goal.
The forward claimed her first league goal of the season after Manuela Paví brilliantly unlocked the Leicester defence with her trickery, threading the ball to Asseyi, who showed superb calmness to round goalkeeper Janina Leitzig and slot the ball into an empty net.
While the first victory was always going to be enjoyable, Skinner was delighted with how dominant her side were at Chigwell Construction Stadium.
“I’m delighted, for the players, for the staff, for everyone whose worked really hard,” she said. “It’s been coming, to be honest, and I think in possession we were superb today, in the first half in particular.
“We definitely could have had more goals from the chances we created and I think we made life really, really difficult for them. I think that’s helped by the fans, who were fantastic again today and they got right behind the team. A real big thank you to the fans but we’re delighted with the clean sheet, and with Vivi [Asseyi] getting her first league goal of the season.
“It was great to see the work that we’ve been putting into training coming off on the pitch. Vivi [Asseyi] created that chance from being a little bit higher, Paví was really positive on the ball, and the timing of the run and the release of the pass was superb to eliminate their backline.
“I think her first touch was outstanding to draw the goalkeeper in with real composure around the box. It’s a fantastic goal and a lot of people contributed to those chances being created.”
Skinner’s side hounded the Leicester defence from the off, closing them down with intent and crafting wave after wave of attack. While the forward line clicked into gear, the Hammers boss was also delighted to keep a first clean sheet of the season.
She said: “We are hard working all the time, and that’s something we definitely don’t want to ever switch off from. There hasn’t been a moment in any game this season where we’ve not tried to do everything we can to try and effect things.
“From a players’ perspective, I think they’ve done a fantastic job. We dealt with a little bit of pressure from them in the first ten to 15 minutes and then we started to take control of the game. At that point, it became quite one-sided in possession and ultimately, it’s another important clean sheet.
“We’ve not conceded many goals this season when you look at it on the course of things, so defensively we have been really difficult to break down, but it’s just not crossed over into as many points as we would have liked so far.
“This is an important victory. We felt we should have got a point out of last week as well, so it’s going to kick start things for us moving forward, I’m sure.”
The fans once again played their part at Chigwell Construction Stadium, helping Skinner’s side over the line to the first three points of the WSL campaign.
“Mini put in her programme notes about the '12th person' and I heard them today. Towards the end, Leicester had a couple of corners and there’s moments in games where you wonder which way it’s going to go, and today I didn’t feel that at all.
“I knew we were going to defend them how we needed to and the fans seem to feel that as well. They were getting right behind the team and that was really good to hear. It gives a massive lift to the players.
“Everybody’s pushing and working really hard, trying to spur the players on, and the players are working as hard as they can. Collectively, it’s a real team and fans effort.
“We’re going into a game against Brighton at the weekend, who have had a fantastic start to the season. I know they didn’t have a great result the other night but they’re a good team that move the ball really well.
“We’re evolving both sides of our game. I’ve said it before, we’ve played four of last year’s top five. It’s been a tough start to the season for us, but defensively we’ve done really well and the performances have been good.
“The last two games, we’ve been much better on the ball, in terms of how we get it forward. And that needs to come together against Brighton because it will be a tough game. Off the back of those three points, we’ll be looking forward to it.”
