Mackenzie Arnold says it is an honour to have been voted as the 2023/24 Women's Hammer of the Year by the West Ham United supporters.
The Hammers captain received her award prior to the women's team's 1-1 draw with Leicester City on Sunday afternoon, a game in which Arnold excelled, denying the Foxes on multiple occasions.
The Australian international rounds off another impressive season in Claret and Blue, where she has made 20 appearances across the campaign in all competitions, and firmly established herself as the undisputed No1 for her country.
Speaking to whufc.com, Arnold thanked the fans for their fantastic support throughout the season and reflected on the team's performance in the draw...
It's such an honour to have been voted Hammer of the Year by our fans.
We've had quite an up and down season, and personally I feel like I could have performed better at times, so to continue to have the backing of the fans for both myself and the team really means a lot.
In winning the award, I’m following in the footsteps of players that have played big roles in the history of the Club so far, so it’s a big achievement for me and I’m very proud to have been awarded it.
It was a good fight from both teams, and I'd say that a draw was probably a fair result.
In the past we’ve sometimes come out and struggled in the earlier minutes, so to come out and score in 12 minutes is a real credit to the girls and a big step forward into where we want to be.
The home crowd have been massive this season. Although we might not have been getting the results they wanted, they kept turning up every week. Our form during the run of home games over the last couple of months has been really encouraging for us, and I think we owe a lot of that progression to the fans.
A point is important for us.
We're a little frustrated because we had plenty of chances in the first half and we only managed to take the one.
If we start like that again in the final game of the season, then I think that will lead to a positive outcome on the final day of the season.
It's always a strong game when we play against Tottenham, and they're going really well this season.
I think over the course of the season our performances have got better and better, and we've been getting points here and there to show for it. Hopefully we can do that again in our final game and reward those that travel across to north London to support us!
