Defender Anouk Denton wants her West Ham United women’s team to channel the ‘good mood’ in the squad into another positive result when they make the trip to Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.
Rehanne Skinner’s side are buoyed by their first win of the Barclays Women’s Super League campaign, which came via a 1-0 success at home to Leicester City on Sunday thanks to Viviane Asseyi’s composed finish deep into first-half stoppage time.
Alongside the Hammers recording their first win of the season, Sunday also marked the team’s first clean sheet in all competitions this term, which was welcomed by 21-year-old left-back Denton and the rest of the defensive contingency.
So, spirits have been even higher at Chadwell Heath this week, and Denton hopes the Irons can capitalise on the positivity within the group on the south coast this weekend.
“The vibes are good,” she told whufc.com. “We were excited for the Leicester game to get back out there and prove people wrong, and win, which we did.
“Every week this year we’ve felt like we’ve played well but the results haven’t gone our way, which was a bit demotivating.
“So it’s been really nice to have a push in motivation from a win, everyone’s in a good mood.
“I think we’ve had a good start to the season, we’ve had some tough games to start off with. We’ve played three of the top five teams, but I think we’ve played some really good football and I think we’ve definitely improved on last year.
“It’s nice that a result has finally come our way and I think in each game, we’ve just been getting better and better.”
Starting all seven of the Hammers’ WSL matches so far this term, Denton is enjoying being a regular in Skinner’s side. She has shown her defensive resolve as well as proving a threat in the final third, as evidenced with her goal against Everton last month.
Her quality and consistency has earned her regular call-ups to England’s U23s squad, where she has built friendships with a lot of the young Lionesses throughout her time in the different age groups, including with Brighton’s Maisie Symonds, Poppy Pattinson and Michelle Agyemang.
Her international team-mates were on the end of a heavy 5-0 defeat at Arsenal last Friday night, but despite their latest outing, the Seagulls have made a positive start to the campaign, sitting third in the standings, and Denton is not underestimating tomorrow’s opponents.
“Brighton have made a really impressive start to the season,” Denton said. “It’s actually nice seeing a different team in the top four, because it’s always been the same four.
“They are doing well this year, but we’ve got confidence in our team as well. We know that we can handle any forwards that come against us. We all have each other’s backs and we’re excited.
“It’s good that they’re coming off the back of a big loss, hopefully they’re feeling down and we’re feeling on top coming off our win. Obviously they do have lots of threats and they’ve played really well this year, so they’re not a team to take lightly.
“We just need to not think about the opposition and focus on ourselves, and play how we played last weekend.”
