West Ham United women's team 0-5 Chelsea
Barclays Women's Super League, Chigwell Construction Stadium, Sunday 19 January 2025, 3pm GMT
West Ham United’s women’s team's return to Barclays Women’s Super League action ended in a crushing defeat, as they were beaten 5-0 by leaders Chelsea at Chigwell Construction Stadium.
Catarina Macario, Erin Cuthbert, Aggie Beever-Jones, Sandy Baltimore all found the net before an own-goal from Amber Tysiak saw the Hammers endure a painful afternoon in east London as the Blues inflicted our heaviest defeat of the season.
As they had been throughout the WSL season, Sonia Bompastor’s side were far superior to their opponents and scored a decisive victory. As an attacking force, Chelsea were rampant, and West Ham could not cope.
Even before they went ahead, the visitors had created a plethora of chances, most notably when Beever-Jones unleashed a strike from distance, while Millie Bright rose highest from a corner crossed in by Baltimore, which then dropped to the feet of Sjoeke Nüsken only a couple yards out from goal, but with the goal at her mercy, she fired wide.
The floodgates opened on eleven minutes when Macario latched onto Nüsken's flick inside the box and acrobatically swept a left-foot volley into the far corner.
Macario should have scored her second moments later when the ball was cut back by Beever-Jones, leaving Macario to tap the ball home from a few yards out, only to fire high and wide of Kinga Szemik’s goal.
Mayra Ramírez then had a header tipped to safety by Szemik before Cuthbert doubled the Blues’ advantage. Nathalie Björn intercepted a loose pass forward before laying it off for Cuthbert, who chose to go alone, tucking a low drive into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.
Szemik was called into action again to make a stunning near-post save to deny Baltimore. Anouk Denton then did, likewise, plunging to head Beever-Jones’ downward header off the line and prevent Chelsea’s third.
The Hammers’ pursuit of a route back into the game gathered momentum as the game passed the half-hour when, first, Seraina Piubel sprinted down the left wing and dragged her effort narrowly wide before Denton embarked on her trademark marauding run to the edge of the box, only to be crowded out by the Chelsea defence.
However, the visitors immediately attacked again, overwhelming the Hammers for a third time in the process to complete a miserable opening half. Tysiak’s miscued clearance fell kindly to Beever-Jones in the box, who rifled into the far corner from distance.
And before referee Amy Fearn blew for half-time, it was almost four. Ramírez sent in a cross from the right channel, which saw Baltimore unleash an effort goalwards, only to be denied by another full-stretch Szemik save.
Shekiera Martinez was sent on for her West Ham debut from the bench at the break, but Chelsea continued in the same attacking vein, with Baltimore adding a fourth to effectively end the contest seven minutes after the restart.
Niamh Charles robbed the Hammers of possession in the final third, and the ball fell to Baltimore, who set herself and powered a left-footed strike that Szemik could not keep out.
Skinner’s side, to their credit, never gave up in their attempt to reduce the arrears.
Moving on to Katrina Gorry’s through ball, Riko Ueki raced through the left-hand channel before cutting inside a defender to send a blistering right-footed drive towards goal that was saved by Hannah Hampton.
Substitute Oriane Jean-François then hit the side-netting from close range before Ashley Lawrence and Maika Hamano were both brilliantly denied by our No1.
As the game headed towards its conclusion, an unfortunate own-goal from Tysiak completed the rout, by turning Cuthbert’s right-wing cross into her own net, but we did manage to avoid suffering any further wounds on a very painful afternoon in east London.
West Ham United: Szemik, Denton, Tysiak, Zadorsky, Mengwen (Cooke 75), Smith, Siren (Martinez 46), Gorry ©, Piubel (Paví 78), Asseyi, Ueki
Subs not used: M. Walsh (GK), Sáez, Bergman Lundin, Houssein, Harries, Ademiluyi
Booked: Gorry
Chelsea: Hampton, Bright ©, Nüsken (Jean-François 61), Ramírez (Rytting Kaneryd 71), Cuthbert, Macario (Hamano 61), Björn, Baltimore (Reiten 61), Charles (Lawrence 71), Bronze, Beever-Jones
Subs not used: Mušović (GK), Périsset, Mpomé, Bernabé
Goals: Macario 11, Cuthbert 21, Beever-Jones 44, Baltimore 52, Tysiak (OG) 85
Attendance: 2,461
Referee: Amy Fearn
Skinner: We don't have time to dwell on the defeat
Rehanne Skinner admitted her side have no time to dwell on their defeat to Chelsea, who she stated were too clinical at Chigwell Construction Stadium.
Three first-half goals gave the Blues control at the break before they added their fourth and fifth of the afternoon in the second period.
The Hammers showed more intensity in the attacking third in the second half, which pleased Skinner, and the manager was delighted to see Shekiera Martinez make her debut for the Club.
We’re better on the ball than what we showed against Chelsea.
I think it was a tough game for us. I think for Chelsea and their shooting opportunities that they've had around the edge of the box, everything they've hit has gone in. That’s not necessarily down to the way that we've dealt with that, it's just they've been fantastic on their finishing, and you have to take that, unfortunately.
I think we were potentially a little bit tentative in possession. We're better than what we showed today on the ball, to be honest.
We definitely could have been more threatening going forward and just a little bit more positive in the first half in particular. In the second half, we definitely did that more and got some entries into the box, and some shots off that obviously is a little bit more what we're about, but we probably just took too long to get into the game.
I think when you concede so early with the goals that they scored, it's hard to come back from against a team like Chelsea. But there are some things that we need to take out of it as a positive, and then bits that we know that we can definitely do better.
There’s no time to dwell on defeat.
We don't have a lot of time to dwell on it. We're going straight into a cup game on Wednesday night and then a game again on Sunday. So, there's lots of football coming up and lots of things to play for. It's a tough one to take for everybody today. We've not been in a position where we've conceded that volume of goals for a long time, but, credit to them, they've struck some fantastic shots today, and that's difficult to take.
Shekiera Martinez applied herself well.
Shekiera’s come from the German league, and the Women's Super League, we all know, is really, really difficult, and that's a bit of a baptism of fire, quite frankly. But I thought she applied herself really well, and you can see, and I'm sure fans can see, what there is to come.
The more we build relationships with her and the rest of the team, the easier it will be for her to impact the team and to impact this league, which she'll definitely do.
Anouk Denton dealt well with the Chelsea threat.
Another positive was Anouk Denton, who, one-on-one against some top senior internationals with a lot of experience, has done a fantastic job again. There's an obvious reason why we've renewed hers and Amber's [Tysiak] contracts. I think both of them have worked incredibly hard. Amongst the rest of the team, everybody's given everything today, but ultimately, just the quality has just been turned on at times.
We’ve got to move onto Wednesday, against Tottenham Hotspur.
We're straight into Wednesday night off the back of this. We spoke about it at the end, we can talk about things right here, right now, but tomorrow we've got to then get recovered, start thinking about Wednesday, and move on.
I think that is a blessing and a curse because you obviously want to learn from things, and you want to put them right. But really, the next game is your opportunity to put it right. We've got to be back in that performance mindset on Wednesday night, ready to go and win a game. The players are massively disappointed. We don't want to be in that position, but we will go again on Wednesday, and we'll be up for trying to put that right.
Gorry: Today just wasn't our day
West Ham United women’s team captain Katrina Gorry could not hide her disappointment after the Hammers suffered a 5-0 home defeat to leaders Chelsea.
The midfielder felt her team were beaten by a more clinical opponent but stressed that there were positives to take from the Irons’ performance against the Barclays Women’s Super League leaders.
Speaking after the defeat, Gorry explained: “Obviously, it's pretty disappointing. You never want to concede that many goals, but Chelsea are a great team.
“The pace they play at, they can score from anywhere on the field, and I think there were patches where we defended well and were able to press higher.
“I think we won the ball back in better positions, but I think we just need to be calmer under pressure and give ourselves a chance. But there are definitely positives to take out of the game.
“We want to do whatever we can to represent the Club as best we can. But, yeah, today just wasn't our day. It felt like everything they touched went in the back of the net. They're a good side, so we've got to take some credit for some of our defensive positions.
“I thought Kinga [Szemik] did great, and she kept us in the game and made some great saves.
“I think today it was really nice to come out here and see the stadium pretty packed. We know our fans are always behind us, and it's the reason why we keep on playing and get through the 90-plus minutes.
“I want to say thank you to everyone who showed up tonight and kept on cheering us on.”
With our next test coming the way of north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday evening in the Subway Women’s League Cup quarter-final, Rehanne Skinner’s side must now dust themselves down ahead of another busy week of action.
“I think that's the good thing about football,” admitted Gorry.
“You have a sleep, and all our eyes turn to Tottenham on Wednesday night. I think it's a big game for us, and it’s a way to turn this one around. We'll sit with the feelings tonight, and tomorrow we move on.”
