Rehanne Skinner was proud of her players’ efforts as they fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat to French heavyweights Paris Saint-Germain in their Perth International Football Cup opener.
Romée Leuchter’s first-half strike ultimately proved the difference between the sides at HBF Park in Western Australia, though much of the game was evenly matched and the Hammers went closest to notching an equaliser shortly before half-time through Viviane Asseyi.
Skinner named summer signings Kinga Szemik, Camila Sáez and Shelina Zadorsky in her starting XI, while recent Olympics representatives Katrina Gorry and Riko Ueki were also involved from the start, and the manager was impressed with how her side worked together throughout the 90 minutes.
There was also a first appearance in front of fans since the end of the 2022/23 campaign for Dagný Brynjarsdóttir, with the Iceland international coming on as a substitute in the first half, while exciting prospects Ruby Doe and Halle Houssein came off the bench and did well.
A clash against fellow Barclays WSL side Leicester City lies next in store for the Hammers in the Perth International Football Cup third-place play-off at 2.05pm AWST on Sunday 1 September, and Skinner is excited to get back out on the pitch as the team enjoys the remainder of their ten-day trip Down Under.
We worked really hard, and I thought the players gave a really good account of themselves.
Their goal just came from a bit of an error in possession, and we didn’t quite manage it well enough, but overall we limited chances for PSG, and we’re pleased with the way we defended.
I think the way we tried to play with the ball was really positive, as well. We weren’t really worried about them, and maybe the only thing is that we could’ve connected the midfield to the final third a little bit better to create some more clear-cut chances.
But, we’ve travelled to the other side of the world, we’ve only had a couple of training sessions, we’ve got some new players, and I thought we did really well. This is the toughest test we’ve had in pre-season so far, and though we want to win every game we play, there are a lot of positives to take from that performance.
Vivi’s [Asseyi] chance was probably the closest we came, but we did threaten them on a few occasions.
There were maybe one or two other good opportunities that we maybe just rushed a little bit, but we’ll continue to evolve our composure in and around the goal. When we start to re-introduce the players we’re missing as well, I think we’ll be in a really good place.
I think everyone put in a good performance, so I’m really happy with the whole team.
Camila Sáez looks as though she’s been at the Club for a long, long time, rather than having joined this summer, and that’s a hard thing to achieve. She showed her experience and how she goes about the game.
I thought Kinga [Szemik] looked really strong and made some fantastic claims, and the whole backline communicated really well. That helps everyone in the whole team settle down.
It takes time for people to settle, but everyone is picking up how we want to play really quickly, which is really encouraging.
Dagný [Brynjarsdóttir] hasn’t actually played for me while I’ve been the manager, so she’s like a new signing!
Her journey has been unbelievable, and she’s a top, top professional. She looked great on the pitch, and with more games under her belt, she’ll get even better.
We had youngsters like Ruby Doe and Halle Houssein involved as well, and it’s great to build those kinds of players into this sort of environment. PSG are a top side, who have reached the Champions League final twice, and we didn’t show any fear. That’s hugely positive for the young players, and as staff we’re all really pleased.
We’re all looking forward to Leicester now.
We’re just going to build on what we’ve done here against PSG. This is the toughest game we’ve played in pre-season so far, and now we want to go out there and get the win on Sunday. We’ll be trying to move in that direction for that game.
