Captain Gilly Flaherty has been voted the ZO Skin Health West Ham United women’s Player of the Month for March.
The centre-back capped a terrific March by scoring her first goal for the Irons in a 1-1 draw with former team Chelsea, while also helping the Hammers to a win over Aston Villa in the FA Cup quarter-finals.
Flaherty took 49% of the vote, beating goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse and striker Jane Ross to the first ZO Skin Health Hammer of the Month accolade.
Winning the first ZO Skin Health Player of the Month award is fantastic, and it means all the more because the fans have voted for it.
Gilly Flaherty
“This is a lovely honour,” Flaherty told whufc.com. “Funny story, I remember getting nominated and a notification coming through on my phone. It said something like: ‘is it Gilly, Jane, or Anna?’ and I thought ‘what have we done now?’
“This is fantastic though and it means all the more because the fans have voted for it. That being said, this is a team effort. Obviously, March was a special month for me as I got my first goal for West Ham against Chelsea, but I wouldn’t be able to do that if I didn’t have the support of the team around me.
“We have got some fantastic players and brilliant characters here at West Ham, so I’m delighted to share this with them.”
Speaking after Sunday’s home defeat at the hands of Birmingham City, Flaherty believes Moorhouse’s sending off was the pivotal factor in the match.
She continued: “I think the sending off changed the match. From that, we had to play near on 55 minutes with just ten players. It’s a situation that, until you’re in it, you don’t realise how tough that can be.
“We tried our best. We just had to try and graft, and stay tight. They obviously had the extra player but I think, from our standpoint, every player who played put in a shift.
“We’ve got to put this one behind us now. We’ve got a big game against Bristol City this weekend which we need to focus on.”