Following her battling and commanding performance in West Ham United women’s team’s victory over London rivals Tottenham Hotspur, captain Katrina Gorry was presented with the Barclays Women’s Super League Player of the Match award.
While she was not on the scoresheet, the 32-year-old led her team to a memorable 2-0 win at Chigwell Construction Stadium - getting stuck into tackles, firing shots from outside the box and even pulling out a successful roulette on the edge of her own penalty area.
Rehanne Skinner’s side were up and running after 16 minutes when Josefine Rybrink inadvertently diverted Verena Hanshaw’s shot into her own net, and continued to cause problems for the Spurs backline.
Oona Siren nearly headed home her first Hammers goal shortly before half-time, but sent her effort straight at the gloves of Lize Kop. Then, in the second half, Gorry fired in a strike from range that the Tottenham goalkeeper clawed away to Shekiera Martinez, who struck the side netting.
But the Hammers’ persistence was rewarded with a clinching second in the 90th minute, when Viviane Asseyi’s free-kick snuck past plenty of bodies in the penalty area into the far corner of the net - her tenth goal in all competitions this season.
It was Gorry, who has featured in every WSL match this term, who was handed the individual accolade after the derby-day success, but she was quick to recognise the effort from her side throughout the 90 minutes in east London.
“I’m so proud of the team,” she beamed. “We had some good wins and then went into the international break. We built momentum, had two weeks off, came out refreshed and I’m just so proud of the effort that everyone put in.
“It takes the whole team to get that sort of victory.
“It’s so nice playing here [in Dagenham], we love home games, especially in a derby match, it’s been amazing. So thank you to all our fans that came out to support us.”
Another derby awaits the Irons as they make the trip to Kingsmeadow to face runaway WSL leaders Chelsea on Sunday, and Gorry can’t wait to head to west London with her Hammers full of confidence after a run of positive performances and results.
“Our season turned around the last time we played Chelsea," she recalled. “We realised that we’re a good, high-pressing team, so for us it’s an exciting game.
“It’s a time to test ourselves and we’ve got a lot of momentum, so we’ll just keep on going."
