Everton 1-1 West Ham United women’s team
Walton Hall Park, Barclays Women’s Super League, Sunday 13 October 2024, 2pm BST.
West Ham United women’s team fought valiantly to earn a point against Everton at Walton Hall Park on Sunday afternoon.
Anouk Denton had given the Irons the lead when she fired into the top corner from close range early in the first half.
Whilst Rehanne Skinner’s side found themselves under a large amount of pressure for much of the contest, they defended valiantly. However, their resistance was eventually broken when Melissa Lawley’s deflected cross spun off Camila Sáez and over the head of Kinga Szemik to earn the home side a share of the spoils.
Skinner made one change from the side that narrowly lost out to Manchester City last weekend, with Oona Siren handed her first league start since signing for the Club in September. Kirsty Smith was also named in the matchday squad for the first time this season having missed the opening three fixtures through injury.
The Hammers made a bright start at Walton Hall Park, as Emma Harries and Viviane Asseyi combined to create the game’s opening opportunity. The France international slipped in behind the Toffees defence and tested Brosnan with a firm effort.
The hosts responded by almost taking the lead themselves. A driving run and cross from Lucy Hope almost allowed Katja Snoeijs to tap home, but a goalmouth scramble eventually saw referee Richie Wellens give a free-kick in West Ham’s favour.
Captain Katrina Gorry played a delightful pass for Denton to run onto a deliver a cross that Riko Ueki tried to steer on target, but her effort flew wide of the mark.
Denton would then open the scoring for Skinner’s side moments later. Asseyi did well to hold off Everton skipper Megan Finnigan, before sliding the ball onto Denton who finished emphatically to give her side an early lead.
The game continued in its back-and-forth nature, with both sides trading possession frequently. Toffees midfielder Heather Payne did manage to wriggle her way through a compact West Ham backline and test Szemik with a firm strike, but the Poland goalkeeper was more than equal to it.
Szemik was called up once again, this time denying Emma Bissell with a fantastic save to her left-hand side to keep her side in front heading into the break.
The Hammers had to defend their lead desperately at times, with Amber Tysiak, Sáez and second half substitute Shannon Cooke under what felt like a siege of Everton crosses.
Seraina Piubel added some much-needed energy to the forward line in the second half. The forward raced away from several markers before laying the ball off to Shelina Zadorsky to strike, but her effort from outside the area flew over.
The home side eventually equalised, and it came with a wicked slice of fortune. A counter attack from the Blues saw Melissa Lawley find space wide on the right, with her cross flicking up off Sáez and over a stranded Szemik to level proceedings.
Towards the end of the contest, Dagný Brynjarsdóttir headed a ball into the path of Cooke, who saw her diving header courageous blocked in front of goal.
West Ham United: Szemik, Tysiak, Sáez, Zadorsky, Denton, Gorry ©, Siren (Brynjarsdóttir 73), Mengwen (Cooke 46), Harries (Piubel 59), Ueki, Asseyi (Smith 83)
Subs not used: M.Walsh (GK), Bergman Lundin, Paví, Houssein
Goal: Denton 10
Booked: Asseyi, Gorry, Cooke
Everton: Brosnan, Hayashi, Wheeler, Vanhaevermaet, Bissell (Sarri 55), Hope, H.Payne (T.Payne 55), Finnigan ©, S.Holmgaard, Snoeijs, Olesen (Lawley 66)
Subs not used: Ramsey (GK), Foster (GK), Hobson, Settle, Jones, Thomas
Goal: Sáez 73 (og)
Referee: Richie Watkin
Skinner: Every point in this league matters
Rehanne Skinner said that her side earned an important point away at Walton Hall Park.
West Ham had to battle to clinch the point on Sunday afternoon as they came under sustained pressure late on in the game after a positive first half showing in the North West.
Denton’s goal would eventually mean that the spoils were shared, and the manager explained why she was pleased to see her team take a point with them back to east London.
“We had a really positive first half and obviously got ourselves ahead in the game. The goal was really well worked down the left-hand side and I thought Vivi [Viviane Assey] did a good job in the way that she came across the box and help the ball up to find Anouk as the spare player.
“It was great for her to be in that position from wing-back and for her to get on the scoresheet. I think there was other chances that we had, but there were definitely spells where we had to defend really well and stay switched on.
“Naturally, you expected Everton to come at you, and towards the end of the game in particular, I thought they had a little bit of the better of us towards the end. We defended the box really resolutely at the end.
“A point on the road at Everton is positive, we didn’t take any points off them last year, so it’s an important one and shows progress from last year.
“Every point in this league matters, as so we’ll take the points on the road and we get ready to face Arsenal in front of our home fans. We want to make life as difficult as we possibly can for them and the fans will make a huge difference to that.”
Denton: It was a game of two halves
Anouk Denton was pleased to score her first goal of the season for West Ham United in the draw with Everton.
The 21-year-old defender scored in the tenth minute of the match at Walton Hall Park, but the Irons would eventually be pegged back as the clock ticked down in the North West.
Denton’s goal came from her advancing forward on the opposite flank as Riko Ueki and Viviane Asseyi combined to set up a chance for the defender to fire into the net, which she took with aplomb.
Whilst the wing-back admitted that her side would have come away with three points from the clash with the Toffees, she believes that a point will prove valuable to the team in the long run and that she was pleased to come away with something from the contest.
"I thought we had a lot more of the ball in this game than we have previously, and we created a lot of chances,” the defender explained.
“It was a game of two halves. I thought first half we were a lot better and on top, and then we were under pressure for a lot of the second half. We dealt with it well and everyone was putting their body on the line. It would have been nice to come away with a win, but a point is better than nothing.
“For my goal, I found myself up there in a really high position. It was good play from Vivi and Riko [Ueki] to create the opportunity, and then Vivi laid it back for me to finish. You could say it was a tap in!
“There was a moment towards the end of the game where they had about two or three shots in a row, and people were throwing themselves at the ball, which is great to see. Everyone was putting their body on the line and holding on to that draw.
“We’re all excited to come up against Arsenal, it’s good to play against Arsenal to see how we compare against them. Hopefully we can produce a similar performance to how we did last year and get a positive result.”
