Lewes Women 1-2 West Ham United Women
Pre-Season Match, The Dripping Pan, Sunday 20 August 2023, 3pm BST
West Ham United Women continued their preparations for the 2023/24 Barclays Women’s Super League season with a pleasing 2-1 victory over Lewes Women on Sunday afternoon.
Rehanne Skinner was in the dugout for the first time as she led the team to victory over the Barclays Women’s Championship side at The Dripping Pan.
The Hammers produced some excellent play throughout the clash in the beaming sunshine in East Sussex and should have gone 1-0 up inside the first six minutes, but Emma Harries couldn’t find the target from close range.
The home side then had a chance of their own, with the ever-busy Malta international Maria Farrugia testing new West Ham goalkeeper Megan Walsh, who was making her first appearance between the sticks for the Club.
Then, the deadlock was broken, as Lisa Evans pounced on a bouncing ball after Izzy Atkinson had miscued her strike in the box. The Scotland international made no mistake, firing her side into the lead.
Jessie Stapleton was introduced after the 30 minute mark, and almost headed in with her first touch. A floated corner found the head of the Republic of Ireland international, but her effort crashed against the crossbar.
In the second half, Evans tested former teammate and Hammer Emily Moore from range after the hour mark – her swerving, dipping shot forcing Moore to push the ball away.
Evans then helped the Hammers grab their second, with her cross striking the hand of a covering Lewes defender. Mel Filis stepped up and sent Moore the wrong way from the spot.
Anna Grey, who had been lively for the home side throughout the contest, scored with a wonderful strike late on, but it would only prove to be a consolation as Skinner's side held out for the win.
West Ham United: Walsh (O’Hanlon 61), Smith, (Duffy 78), Cissoko (Cooke 61), Cooke (Stapleton 32), Denton (Mammeri 78), Flannery (Ferns 78), Filis (Houssein 78), Atkinson (Nicholls 46), Evans (Fonseca 78), Ademiluyi (Trialist 78), Harries (Mohamed 78).
Goals: Evans 23, Filis 75
Booking: Filis
Skinner: It’s another positive step in the right direction
Rehanne Skinner was pleased with what she saw from her West Ham side in her first match in charge of the team.
Skinner has been with the squad for just under a week, having arrived after completing pre-agreed media duties at the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in Australia, and she was in the dugout for the first time against the Rooks.
After a week of hard work on the training pitch, the boss said that there were plenty of signs that what she and her coaching staff have been working is coming to fruition out on the pitch.
"It's another positive step in the right direction," she told whufc.com at the full-time whistle. "We were much more confident and controlled in possession and that was a real positive.
"We played out of their press on so many occasions today with real confidence and purpose and I think our shape is getting better and better as the weeks go by. I've been really pleased with things overall."
With any pre-season fixture, particularly at this early stage, minutes in the legs are always the first point of focus. Skinner was pleased that the experienced players were able to bag nearly 80 minutes each.
"Ultimately, the main thing is the minutes in the legs," she explained. "We're moving forward with things and we were able to get important minutes in and everyone came away without any issues.
"Throughout the course of this week we're trying to increase the fitness levels and robustness of the players across their gym work and the pitch. It's important for us because we want to be able to sustain the tempo that we want to play at - and for the most part I thought we were able to keep the intensity pretty high today.
"We were able to throw the youngsters in for the final 15 minutes, and I thought they did a really good job once they got to speed with the game - they held it together during a tough period."
Skinner admitted on Tuesday that she had been desperate to get out on the grass and work with the team - and she said after Sunday's victory that she enjoyed taking charge of the team and being in the dugout for the first time as West Ham manager.
"It's all about the games," she laughed. "I actually think that this game is a product of the way that the played have trained this week. It's been a fantastic week on the grass, and that's carried over into today and what we saw out on the pitch.
"So that's the tone that we have to set and the standards that we have to have as a group week-in, week-out. That's going to be the difference in terms of our levels of consistency throughout the season.
"We did a good job of that today, and hopefully that will continue as we head through pre-season."
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