Keira Flannery was pleased to get more minutes into her legs on Sunday afternoon.
The Hammers beat Lewes 2-1 in their second pre-season fixture ahead of the upcoming 2023/24 Barclays Women’s Super League campaign, with Flannery playing nearly 80 minutes of the contest at the Dripping Pan.
Lisa Evans scored the game’s opening goal on 23 minutes, slotting home after good build up play from right to left ended with a loose ball finding the right foot of the Scotland international inside the area.
Mel Filis added a second from the penalty spot with 15 minutes remaining, before the home side made it an interesting final couple of moments when Anna Grey fired home from outside the box.
Rehanne Skinner was in the dugout for the first time after working with the squad throughout the previous week, and 17-year-old midfielder Flannery was pleased with the showing that her and her teammates were able to produce against the Rooks.
“It was a really good game, she told whufc.com. “It’s always nice to get a good run out against solid opposition who made us work hard today.
“I thought that, compared to last weekend against Charlton, we were a lot more menacing in attack this time around, we created more opportunities and should have really scored a couple more goals.
“To come away with a win is always nice, but the main thing for us today was about the performance and I thought we did well and did some good things when we had the ball.”
Watch highlights from the victory over Lewes in the video player above!
Flannery spent the end of the 2023/24 season on dual-registration terms with FA Women’s National League Southern Premier Division side Chatham Town (Formally Gillingham FC), where she featured eight times, scoring once.
Like any footballer, Flannery loves being out on the pitch and playing matches but is also placing high value on the time spent working under Skinner on the training pitch, as the new boss begins to implement her philosophy on the team.
“You want to be playing games," she explained.
"Training is great, and really important at this stage because we’re getting used to the things that Rehanne wants us to implement, but there’s no better feeling that being out there with the ball at your feet in a game.
“Working with Rehanne has been a different experience. She’s coming in and changing things for the better, everything has been really positive in the first few days of her being here.
“I’m looking forward to continuing to work hard and learning a lot from playing under her.”
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