Chelsea 2-0 West Ham United women's team
Subway® Women’s League Cup semi-final, Kingsmeadow, Wednesday 5 February 2025, 7pm GMT
West Ham United women’s team’s Subway® Women’s League Cup journey came to an end at the hands of Chelsea on Wednesday night.
The Hammers had been scintillating all competition, topping the scoring charts with 15 goals from four matches heading into their clash at Kingsmeadow, but the semi-final stage is where they bowed out, as the Blues were 2-0 winners.
First-half strikes from Johanna Rytting Kaneryd and Sjoeke Nüsken gave the home side a firm grip on the last-four tie at the break, and as much as the Hammers battled in the second period, they were unable to find a breakthrough.
Rehanne Skinner’s side can be extremely proud of their performance in south-west London as they went toe to toe with Sonia Bompastor’s outfit for the majority of the tie, but it was Chelsea who progressed to the showpiece at Pride Park in March.
Despite the result, the Hammers boss will be delighted with the resilience and character her side showed, especially in the early stages as while Chelsea started on the front foot - enjoying a lot of the ball - West Ham worked tirelessly to keep their shape.
The Hammers resisted the early pressure well, limiting the home side to few sights at goal with Mayra Rarmirez blazing over from inside the box and Nathalie Bjorn heading wide in the opening phases.
But unfortunately, West Ham’s resistance only lasted so long as the Blues broke the deadlock on 20 minutes - Rytting Kaneryd firing the ball beyond Kinga Szemik at her near post from inside the penalty area.
Skinner’s side were quick to respond and almost found an instant equaliser as Shekiera Martinez bared down on goal but could only send her effort wide of the target, before Viviane Asseyi, with four League Cup goals this term, saw the ball ricochet off her face following Hannah Hampton’s kick, but unfortunately it bounced out of play.
Despite their best efforts to draw level, the Hammers found themselves two goals down just before the half-hour mark, as Guro Reiten pounced on a loose pass to thread Nüsken through, and the midfielder remained calm to round Szemik before finishing into an empty net.
The remainder of the first half again saw West Ham push for a route back into the cup tie as Shelina Zadorsky’s free-kick found a way past everyone in the box before trickling out for a goal kick and Asseyi cannoned a free-kick from a tight angle against the upright.
The home side were hungry to put the contest to bed and almost added a third at the start of the second period, but Rytting Kaneryd was unable to turn home Ramirez’s low delivery across the face of goal - skying her strike over the bar.
While Chelsea chased a third, the Hammers were not laying down lightly and came so close to halving the deficit ten minutes after half-time. A neat move saw Oona Siren and Riko Ueki combine to feed the ball to Verena Hanshaw down the left-hand side. The January arrival flashed an intelligent ball across the box, but Asseyi was unable to get any contact on the delivery.
The Hammers attacked again, this time Kirsty Smith cut onto her left to deliver an inswinging cross, but it just evaded Ueki in the six-yard box, who was at full stretch.
With 15 minutes remaining, it was still the Irons who pushed for a goal. Substitute Camila Sáez headed Asseyi’s corner agonisingly onto the roof of the net before Smith fired low at Hampton, who held onto the effort.
The away side, donning their third kit, pressed for a route back into the tie all evening - and Sáez again went close with a header - but unfortunately they could not find the breakthrough, as Chelsea progressed to the final.
Chelsea: Hampton, Lawrence (James 60), Bright ©, Bjorn, Charles, Walsh, Nusken, Rytting Kaneryd (Jean-Francois, Hamano (Kaptein 69), Reiten, Ramirez (Beever-Jones 60)
Subs not used: Leifting, Brown, Macario, Cuthbert, Mpome
Goals: Rytting Kaneryd 20, Nüsken 28
Booked: Lawrence, James
West Ham United: Szemik, Smith, Nyström (Sáez 71), Zadorsky, Mengwen, Hanshaw, Siren (Brynjarsdóttir 71), Gorry ©, Asseyi, Martinez (Piubel 61), Ueki (Paví 77)
Subs not used: M. Walsh (GK), Denton, Bergman Lundin, Houssein, Harries
Booked: Ueki
Referee: Stacey Pearson
Attendance: TBC
Skinner: The whole team worked incredibly hard from start to finish
Rehanne Skinner is immensely proud of her side’s achievements in the Subway® Women’s League Cup this term.
West Ham reached the semi-finals of the competition for the third time in their history, winning four matches en route to the last four, but eventually their journey came to an end at the hands of Chelsea on Wednesday night.
Goals from Rytting Kaneryd and Nüsken won the tie for the Blues on the night, but nothing can take away the spirit and character Skinner’s side showed at Kingsmeadow, as they also came close to getting back into the contest on a number of occasions in the second half.
We showed a fantastic attitude from start to finish.
I think the whole team worked incredibly hard from start to finish. I think we showed more what we're about. We were on the front foot more, pressed more aggressively, and I thought we turned the ball over quite well.
We were a little bit loose on the pivot on Keira Walsh in the first half, so we let them out a few times when we probably could have stopped that. But we fixed that at half-time and I thought it created a lot more opportunities for us in the second half.
With a short turnaround from a long trip up to Liverpool at the weekend, I think everybody's done a fantastic job.
We're obviously disappointed with the goals we conceded, we all felt that they were avoidable. We just got caught on the ball a little bit, maybe a bit of indecision.
But as a team, the response was fantastic. There was a good period of time where I thought we'd get a goal back as well and it could have probably turned it on its head a little bit, or at least put them under pressure. But we just couldn't get it over the line in the end, unfortunately.
I think we had a fantastic attitude from start to finish and were much more assertive about everything we were doing. Once we got that right as a team, that's what created the turnovers and the opportunities, and more balls in the box, more threatening runs.
We can be proud of our run to the semi-final.
We wanted to get to the final, but, in terms of performance, I think it's a good performance at the end of six games in a short space of time.
Every player that's in the squad tonight here has taken part in this competition as well. And so when you look at a whole squad, that's fantastic that everybody's contributed to get to this point, including this evening. Those are the types of things that we need to take forwards as well into the remaining league games.
We’ll take the positives into Brighton.
We've had some fantastic results and then we've had some that haven't gone our way. And I think it's important for everyone that's been working so hard, staff and players, to get a bit of a couple of days back, and then we get ready and we give it everything against Brighton.
Off the back of that performance, I think it's a positive performance to take the learnings from into the Brighton game.
Zadorsky: I'm so proud of everyone for their efforts
Defender Shelina Zadorksy hailed her West Ham players for their efforts in their Subway® Women’s League Cup semi-final with Chelsea, highlighting particular praise on their second-half performance.
Having come out of half-time two goals down, the Hammers showed no signs of giving in and limited the Blues to little clear-cut opportunities in the second period.
The Canada international played a key role in shutting out multiple of the home side’s attacks, and was incredibly proud of the Irons’ achievements in the competition.
“I'm so proud of all the staff and players,” said the No14. “I think it's our sixth game in three weeks, so it's been a busy period. And particularly in the second half, we played some really amazing football and put them on the back foot. So that felt good.
“Obviously, there's things to improve on and we will do that, but I'm really proud of everyone for reaching the semi-final.
“We just tweaked a few things at half-time in our press to be even more on the front foot and put them under pressure, and we did that. I was so proud of everyone and their intensity, and how they stuck through that for 90 minutes.”
Skinner’s side defeated Portsmouth, London City Lionesses, Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur on their way to the semi-finals of the League Cup, scoring a competition-high 15 goals in the process.
Zadorsky contributed to that tally, netting her first goal for the Club against the Saints in December. And while everyone in Claret and Blue wanted to be one of the two teams walking out at Pride Park in March, there are a lot of positives to take from the cup run.
“Obviously, I wanted to win,” said Zadorsky. “I wanted to get to final and get a trophy for the Club, but I'm so proud of everyone for their effort, and we played some good football at times.
“Everyone contributed in this cup and everyone played minutes, and it was important for everyone to have the experience.
“We wanted to be in the final and we wanted to be able to win more, but we can take a lot forward.”
