West Ham United Women's manager Olli Harder was in ambivalent mood following his team’s 2-0 defeat to Chelsea at Dagenham & Redbridge Stadium.
A month after the Hammers were defeated heavily by the same opposition in the FA Women’s Continental League Cup semi-finals at Kingsmeadow, Sunday’s encounter was much more evenly contested and – on another day – might have even produced another result.
As it was, two goals at the start of either half – bullet headers from Sam Kerr and Bethany England respectively – were enough to secure the Blues three points in east London.
In that respect, Harder was understandably disappointed, but reflected on his team’s performance with a measure of pride against the Women’s Super League leaders who, at times this season, have been dominant on domestic and continental footballing fronts.
“It was obviously a disappointing result,” he explained. “We try to play every game to win or collect points, but we got zero today. Overall, however, it was a marked improvement.
“The three weeks away [with the international break] have been good. We’ve worked hard and I thought we had moments in the game where we could’ve made more of it. If anything, we’ve taken positives away from it.
“I thought aside from those two goals, and a wonderful save from our ‘keeper, they didn’t really trouble us too much. From that aspect, I was pleased, but obviously it is concerning when you’re conceding early goals because it does put you on the back foot.
“However, at least in this aspect, we responded well and didn’t end up four or five behind at half-time, which is what has happened previously. For us to recover from that and get our composure back and stick to the gameplan was excellent.
“For us, obviously right now, the biggest hurdle for us moving forward is momentum. We need to create some momentum in the team. Obviously performances are good, but results will help move that train forward. It’s positive in that aspect, but for us, if we want to close the gap further on this type of team, we can’t be happy with just losing 2-0.”
Despite a keenly fought encounter in east London, West Ham were at times indebted to their shot-stopper Courtney Brosnan, the No18 making her first league start of the season in place of the injured Mackenzie Arnold – and producing some fine saves.
Courtney was fantastic. To be honest, she does a lot of that in training on a day-to-day basis, so her performance today is a representation of how good she is as a goalkeeper
Olli Harder
One Brosnan save in particular in the second half to deny England was simply superb, as the Republic of Ireland international somehow shifted her momentum enough to divert a close-range finish over the bar.
Speaking following the match, Harder issued an update on the Arnold’s fitness status, and praised Brosnan for her performance.
“Mackenzie has a knee injury,” Harder clarified. “It happened in training in an innocuous incident.
“Courtney was fantastic. It was fortunate for myself to have a ‘keeper of that quality available. To be honest, she does a lot of that in training on a day-to-day basis, so her performance today is a representation of how good she is as a goalkeeper – I’m very pleased.”
Harder also clarified the fitness statuses of Lois Joel and Adriana Leon, who were absent from Sunday’s teamsheet.
“Adriana got injured in the USA when she was away with Canada,” he confirmed. “Lois injured her foot in training.
“Mackenzie will be out four to six weeks, I’d imagine. The other two are likely to be missing almost the entire season – hopefully they can come back a few weeks before the end, but we’d prefer to overbudget than underbudget.
"Leanne Kiernan is also out with shin splints, and we will continue to monitor her on a weekly basis."
Harder concluded by taking the time to praise his team’s overall display in the contest.
“This was a decent football match,” he surmised. “Sometimes when you’re playing against teams like Chelsea – and we’ve seen this before, not just against West Ham – it can get very one-sided and it’s not a great representation of a football match.
“Here, today, was a good representation of a football match – two teams, one a bit better in terms of quality, fair play to Chelsea, but we stuck in the game, made chances and problems for them as well.
“If we had fans in the stands here today, I imagine they’d be quite proud of West Ham but also women’s football.”
