London City Lionesses 1-4 West Ham United
Women's League Cup Group C, Hayes Lane, Sunday 24 November 2024, 2pm GMT
A brace from Viviane Asseyi, and goals from Manuela Paví and Riko Ueki helped West Ham United women’s team to a 4-1 victory at London City Lionesses in the Women’s League Cup.
Two quick-fire goals in the second half killed the contest off to secure the Irons the three points, which maintains their position at the top of the Group C standings.
French international Asseyi gave the Hammers lift off after 12 minutes with a composed finish under Grace Moloney but the lower-league hosts levelled the tie in first-half stoppage time through a curling effort from Sofia Jakobsson.
The second half was mostly uneventful with little opportunities to write home about, but the winning goal eventually came 20 minutes from time, as Paví latched onto a mistake in the home side’s defence to fire in her first goal for the Club.
The Hammers were in dreamland a minute later, as Asseyi showed her quality to put the ball round Moloney before slotting home her second and Rehanne Skinner’s side’s third, and second-half substitute Ueki made sure of the three points in the fifth minute of stoppage time.
With six changes to the Hammers’ starting XI, it was understandable that the game took time to get going but after a quiet opening 10 minutes, out of nowhere the visitors took the lead. A loose pass from Asllani, after good pressure from Brynjarsdóttir, fell straight to Bergman Lundin and the midfielder threaded a pass through to Asseyi, who remained calm to slot the ball under Moloney, her third goal of the Women’s League Cup campaign.
The Hammers kept pushing for a second with a flurry of attacks involving Paví, Emma Harries and Seraina Piubel, but Moloney was on hand to collect the away side’s deliveries. Marika Bergman Lundin, starting for the second time in all competitions this term, then stung the shot-stoppers gloves with a fierce effort from distance.
The hosts showed signs of life after the half-hour mark, forcing Megan Walsh into claiming crosses under pressure from Goodwin. The London City Lionesses forward then latched onto a throughball before she dragged a left-footed shot wide of the right-hand post.
Jocelyn Prêcheur’s side’s pressure towards the end of the first period then told in the first minute of added time as Jakobsson curled a shot that nestled into the far left corner, beyond the dive of Walsh.
With the scores level at the break, both managers opted to make changes before the restart as both captains were withdrawn from the field: Shelina Zadorsky was replaced by Camila Sáez and Miljana Ivanović came on for Kosovare Asllani.
Skinner’s side flew out of the traps at the start of the second period and penned the opposition in their own half. Neat link-up play between Piubel, Paví and Dagný Brynjarsdóttir guided the Hammers into a strong position, but London City cleared the danger on the edge of their own box. Keeping up the intensity, for the second time in the contest, Bergman Lundin tested Moloney from range, but again the goalkeeper was equal to the effort.
With the contest hanging in the balance, Skinner’s side showed their quality with two goals in two minutes to firmly take control of the cup tie. First, Paví pounced on a mistake in the London City backline and fired the ball home from close range to put the Hammers back in front.
London City Lionesses barely had time to regroup before the Hammers chalked up their third as Asseyi burst into the box before rounding Moloney and slotting home her second and West Ham’s third of the evening.
The three points were wrapped up in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time, when substitute Ueki finished expertly from inside the box, rolling the ball into the bottom-left corner, to score the Hammers’ tenth goal of the Women’s League Cup this term.
London City Lionesses: Moloney (GK), Neville, Mukandi, Brougham, Campbell (Littlejohn 57), Mengyu, Asllani © (Ivanović 46), Meyong, Jakobsson (Wilde 67), Goodwin, Boye-Hlorkah
Unused subs: Orman (GK), Goldie, Scofield, Fitzgerald, Brown, Imuarin
West Ham United: M. Walsh (GK), Smith, Zadorsky © (Sáez 46), Cooke, Mengwen (Denton 64), Bergman Lundin, Brynjarsdóttir, Piubel (Ueki 67), Harries (Siren 64), Asseyi, Paví
Unused ubs: Szemik (GK), Tysiak, Houssein, S. Walsh
