Viviane Asseyi scored all three goals as West Ham United women’s team beat Bristol City 3-0 on Sunday.
The Irons were back in pre-season action as they continue preparations for the 2023/24 season, this time at their home ground, Chigwell Construction Stadium – playing their first home fixture since May.
That meant new boss, Rehanne Skinner met the joyous home crowd for the first time, and both would have been pleased with what they saw from their team when the full-time whistle sounded.
That was down to Asseyi’s finishing in the second half. The France international stayed strong after missing a number of decent opportunities in the opening 45 minutes and ended up with the match ball in her hands at the end of the game.
“It was a very nice feeling to score three goals,” Asseyi told whufc.com whilst proudly holding the match ball.
“It’s my first hat-trick for West Ham, so I’m really happy. It may only be a friendly game, but I want to score as many goals as I can because I’m a striker and that is my job.
“I’m not happy about the chances that I missed before I scored, but I think I showed good mentality to keep going and eventually my goals came, and I hope that I will be able to keep scoring throughout the season.”
Asseyi and her teammates were back playing in front of the West Ham United faithful, who helped cheer the team onto victory in the sunshine in east London.
The forward was pleased to be back on the grass and starring in front of the fans after such a long time away.
“It was good to be back here in front of the fans. It's been a long time since we've seen our fans and today, like every time, they were supporting us and cheering us on.
“To see them happy during the game as we were scoring goals made me really happy too. They are so important to us, and they will be throughout this season, so I really hoped the enjoyed what they saw and they come again to watch us.”
Asseyi completed her first 90 minutes of pre-season in the fixture against the Robins and was pleased with the way that the team played.
Indeed, Asseyi mentioned the enjoyment that she has had playing under new boss Skinner in matches since returning from the World Cup.
“[Rehanne] wants that we enjoy the way that we play, and she wants that we all enjoy working together as a team.
“Today we saw that we were all enjoying working hard out there on the pitch and although, like I say not everything was good, we keep going and we are happy to learn from mistakes together as a team.”
Watch Asseyi in action as West Ham United take on Manchester City in the women's team's opening Barclays Women's Super League match of the season! Purchase your ticket by clicking on the graphic below!
