Mel Filis says that West Ham United women’s team’s 3-2 defeat to Aston Villa was a tough result to take.
The Hammers produced a much-improved performance in their seventh Barclays Women’s Super League fixture of the season, but ultimately came away with nothing after Rachel Day scored a late winner at Chigwell Construction Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Former Hammer Daly scored the eventual winner in the 92nd minute of a contest in which the Hammers had dominated for certain spells.
Viviane Asseyi opened the scoring from the penalty spot after another former Hammer, Adriana Leon had brought down Kirsty Smith. However, three minutes later, Anna Patten headed in from a set piece to bring the game level heading into half time.
Leon got on the scoresheet as the home side failed to deal with another set piece. Patten won a flick on that fell into the path of the Canadian, who fired home.
Lisa Evans entered the field and scored a sensational goal to bring the tie back level on 80 minutes. However, it would be the Villans that would go home with all three points, as Daly found the back the net with only minutes to spare.
Speaking to whufc.com at the full time whistle, Filis said there were lots of positives to take despite defeat, but that the loss was a difficult one to stomach.
“It was a tough one for us all to take,” Filis told whufc.com. “We spoke before the game about wanting to start fast as we feel like in our previous couple of games we haven’t started so well and I feel like we did that.
“We said about being on the front foot, pressing aggressively and squeezing up the pitch, putting pressure in their half of the pitch and I can’t fault the girls. We really did do that in the first half and hence why we created a lot of chances from that.
“It hurts to come away with nothing because the performance was there, and we managed to come back from being 2-1 down to them square the game, Lisa Evans with a great finish. Then, we were just pushing to try and get the win, but unfortunately, we conceded right at the end.”
Filis and her teammates were looking for a response from the disappointing 5-0 defeat to Manchester United in their previous WSL, and they certainly produced a more complete performance in Dagenham on Sunday afternoon.
The Hammers dominated for large spells of the contest against Carla Ward’s Aston Villa, delivering a barrage of dangerous balls into the area, and forcing Villa goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar in action on plenty of occasions.
“There are definitely a lot of positives to take from the game. We spoke off the back of Manchester United about the improvements that we needed to make, and we did that for the most part today, particularly in an attacking sense.
“The performance was much better, but the result just didn’t go our way. We all genuinely believe that if we keep performing as we did today then we will pick up results and put points on the board.”
The Hammers now prepare to pick themselves up and go again, as they head to Broadfield Stadium to face Brighton & Hove Albion in the Continental Tyres League Cup on Wednesday evening.
Filis says that it’s an opportunity put in another good performance and build some confidence ahead of facing Arsenal on Sunday 26 November, when the team returns to WSL action for the final fixture before the upcoming international break.
“The best thing is that we’ve got a game two days from now,” she explained. “It gives everyone a chance to get back out on the pitch and produce another good performance. We want to get a good result and go into the Arsenal game with two strong games under our belt.
“We know Brighton will be a tough game, but we want to do well in the cup competitions this season, and we’re in a good spot having won our first game.”
