Rehanne Skinner believes West Ham United women’s team's 1-1 draw with Leicester City was a fair result for both sides.
An early Riko Ueki strike handed the Irons a well-deserved lead, but Sophie Howard’s header on 36 minutes saw the teams go in at half-time level.
Both sides had chances to win it in an end-to-end second half, but the spoils were ultimately shared in the penultimate Barclays Women’s Super League fixture of the season.
While the manager was pleased with the Hammers' overall performance, and her players' ability to do both sides of the game, there was frustration with some of the chances missed and the goal that they conceded.
Skinner was pleased with the positive start West Ham made for a second consecutive week, and hopes they can take the many positives into the final clash of 2023/24 against Tottenham Hotspur in two weeks’ time.
We started the match positively, which it is something we’ve not done enough of this season.
I thought we started the game brilliantly, had some great chances in the first half and probably could have been three goals up actually. I think it was great we scored 13 minutes in because I don’t think we have done that enough this season. We did last week, and have done it again this week, so we just want to keep building on that and get more consistency.
In the second half, I thought we just let them have too much of the ball, time and space for parts of it and they had some good chances. There were some good chances to win it for us on the counter-attack in particular, but on the balance of it, a draw was probably fair.
Riko has been brilliant for us.
I think over the course of the season, she [Riko Ueki] has been brilliant for us. It has taken us a little bit of time to get used to the quality of her movement and finding her feet a little bit more, but as time has gone on, she has cemented her place in the team and has been really effective for us, especially in possession and building the attack.
She works incredibly hard as well and has done that all season for herself, the team and the fans. We're really pleased for her to win the Young Player of the Season award in her first season here.
We could’ve won it in the end.
I think we have been getting better at the end of games all of the time, and for the last 15 minutes we threw everything at it again. The subs came on and tried to impact the game and the energy changed a little.
We had a couple of chances, but I think a large chunk of the second half was in their favour and Macca [Mackenzie Arnold] made a couple of fantastic saves at that point. We could’ve had a winner at the end, but in terms of clear-cut chances it was fairly even.
Macca has stepped up to the captaincy and deserves her award.
I think Macca has just continued to improve, and over recent years she has just got better and better and that has culminated with her performance at the World Cup and then for the rest of the season she has been really consistent.
She has been superb for us, and has taken on leadership responsibilities as well for the team. I think she has stood up to that really well. Ultimately, you can see the quality she has, she makes big saves at key moments and I think she has done that again today.
The fans have been fantastic.
I’m just delighted with the way the fanbase has grown over the course of the season, and now we are creating an atmosphere here all the time. I’m really grateful for their [the fans’] support as it has made a difference.
Since January, coming to this ground has been a difficult place, and if you look at our performances here, at the points we have taken and the points we have almost taken, it shows our home performances have significantly improved and that coincides with having more fans, more atmosphere and more support.
I’m just really grateful for their support this year, and hopefully they have seen the style of football change for the better and the more exciting football we are trying to create.
