West Ham United women’s team manager Rehanne Skinner was pleased with the team’s performance in defeat against Barclays Women’s Super League champions Chelsea on Saturday evening.
The Hammers were beaten 2-0 at Kingsmeadow, with Sam Kerr heading beyond compatriot Mackenzie Arnold just before half time, and Erin Cuthbert scoring a second with minutes remaining in the game.
Skinner’s team produced another typically hardworking performance against Emma Hayes’ outfit, and created chances, particularly in the first half where Emma Harries, Viviane Asseyi and Riko Ueki all going close.
The game ebbed and flowed, with the Irons a threat on the counter attack when Chelsea did lose the ball - they just couldn’t apply the final touches to get a goal on the night.
Chelsea would ultimately come away with all three points, but Skinner was positive about the overall performance and the week as a whole at the full time whistle.
I thought we played incredibly well
The players were really really hard tonight, and I thought our performance was a massive improvement on what we produced against Manchester City.
I thought we gave a really good account of ourselves, and I think we can walk away feeling a little bit disappointed that we didn’t score in the first half. We had our best chances in the first half and didn’t create as much in the second.
Overall, I thought we did really well. Chelsea are a good side and when they create good chances they will take them. We have to be a little bit better in moments, but I’m really pleased with the output of the players today.
Being a hard working team is what we’re about
It’s something we’re going to do every single week, and that takes a lot of belief, confidence and a lot of trust. Over the course of the pre-season and the first couple of matches that we’ve had up to now, there’s been significant progress in the players.
To be honest, I couldn’t be more proud of they way that they’re applying themselves. We’re getting good performances as a result of the hard work that everybody’s putting in.
When you come away from Chelsea disappointed that you’ve not got any points out of the game, that tells you a lot as to where and how we’ve evolved.
As games go by, we will continue to improve, we’ll keep learning and applying what we’re trying to do. It was a huge test today, and we’ve done well for huge parts of the game, so that’s a real step forward
When we stuck to the gameplan, we made life really difficult for them at times
Chelsea didn’t play in midweek and we did, so to come into our third game in six days and perform the way that we did just shows again, the character and resilience of the players.
There’s little moments where we have got to stay switched on, especially against top quality opposition, but for large parts of the game, we did exceptionally well.
There’s a huge amount for us to take into Liverpool next week
We spoke to the players at the end and there’s so much positivity in the group.
We don’t want to lose games, but when you actually look at the performances and the stats that are associated to what we’ve done today, there’s huge amounts of positives to take into next week.
There are a couple of things we want to tidy up and help the players to understand a little bit more, but like I said, it’s still quite early in our process so to be doing all of the things that we are doing so early is massive for us.
Next up, the women's team welcome Matt Beard's Liverpool to Chigwell Construction Stadium! Purchase your tickets by clicking on the graphic below!
