Paul Konchesky was delighted that West Ham United Women came out on the winning side from their clash with Tottenham Hotspur.
As a player, Konchesky had played in a number of derby matches against Spurs, and in his first as a manager, his side secured a 2-0 victory at a freezing cold Breyer Group Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Goals from captain Dagný Brynjarsdóttir and Hawa Cissoko secured the win in east London, moving the Hammers up to fifth in the Barclays Women’s Super League table.
Iceland midfielder Brynjarsdóttir's goal came after she had earlier missed a penalty, showing her strength of character, before France defender Cissoko capped a memorable afternoon with a superb finish.
It was the Irons’ final league fixture of the calendar year, and Konchesky was both proud and happy that his team were able to end 2022 with the bragging rights and all three points.
My initial thoughts are that it’s a fantastic win.
We know that West Ham against Tottenham is a massive derby and I think it means a lot to those girls in the dressing room that they’ve been able to get the win.
We’ve got quite a few new players who haven’t experienced what this game is like, so I wasn’t sure if they knew what it really meant to win this game, but they have now and I’m proud of every single player.
It was a shame for Dagný to miss the penalty.
She doesn’t miss many of them, but it does happen and it’s about how you react to that. She didn’t let it affect her, though, and I was pleased that she got her goal because she deserved it.
We made a change to the shape heading into the second half and we came out all guns blazing – so I was pleased that we were able to get on top early and keep it that way.
I thought Hawa was fantastic today.
My initial thought when she was on the halfway line was, and I actually shouted out ‘where are you going, Hawa’! When I saw Viviane [Asseyi] play her the ball and it wad 2v2, I was pleased it was Hawa because we know that she’s quick.
I thought she’d taken a heavy touch, but the 'keeper stayed on her line – and then I’m thinking she’s either going to roll it across to Thea [Kyvåg], or side-foot it into the goal. I certainly didn’t think she would chip the goalkeeper.
It’s been a long-time coming for Hawa, and I’m so pleased for her to get on the scoresheet today.
The clean sheets are massive for us.
It starts from the front and it’s a collective effort. I thought everyone, even those that came off the bench, put in an incredible shift to make sure that we kept it.
We’re probably where we want to be going into the Christmas break.
We’ve had ups and downs so far this season and, being brutally honest, we could have picked up a few more points up – but we haven’t and we are where we are.
I’m proud of the group that we have here, and I’m proud of my staff and the hard work that they’ve put in.
We know it’s going to be tough when we come back to league action as we have a really tough one against Manchester City, but we’ll be ready to go and hopefully we can put in a good showing and continue picking up as many points as we can through the rest of the season.
