Rehanne Skinner hailed the never-say-die attitude of her side following their last-gasp 1-1 draw against fourth-placed Manchester City on Wednesday night.
Bunny Shaw came off the bench to put Gareth Taylor’s visitors ahead with ten minutes remaining but the Hammers never gave in, and sparked sensational scenes at Chigwell Construction Stadium when half-time substitute Manuela Paví curled home a 91st-minute equaliser.
Skinner’s side asserted their dominance from the off, pressing the Citizens with real intensity - something the away side struggled to adapt to in the first period. That resulted in Seraina Piubel, Riko Ueki and Shelina Zadorsky all coming close to forcing a breakthrough.
Pavi’s magic was praised by her manager at full-time, who also gave a huge amount of credit to Riko Ueki for her intelligent back-heel in the build up to the all-important leveller.
The Hammers are thriving in east London, having chalked up a new women’s team record for points at home in a single season, and only two Barclays Women’s Super League sides have walked away victorious this term.
The last four performances against Chelsea, Brighton & Hove Albion, Arsenal and Manchester City have left Skinner and her team beaming with pride as they continue to target as high a finish as possible in the WSL this season.
We played really well, again, today.
We do like to make it exciting! I thought we played really well today and I think in the first half, we probably could have been in front at half-time. We had three really good opportunities and I think the way that we applied ourselves again is just the most important piece.
Over the last four games, I think we've been excellent, and we were unlucky not to get an equaliser at the latter stages of the game against Arsenal on Sunday.
The team is evolving into being really effective weekly, and that's important because we want points out of the league.
Paví and Riko both did so well for the goal.
We know what we have with Paví. She's creative, she's bold, she's very difficult to get the ball off and she comes up with the goods at the last stages of the game.
But also, massive credit to Riko [Ueki] for the way she's managed to help her to get in the box. It's a great pass and so that then creates an opportunity.
There is so much belief and confidence in the team.
I just think the character in the team is just so important, the belief and the confidence that we have to go and get points out of games. It's evolved over time within the squad, now that they've got to know each other better and the way that we're playing, and it suits the players.
We've obviously brought players in to do a certain style of play, and now they're able to execute that. It's causing people a lot of problems. And I'm delighted to get our first point against City at home in front of the fans.
The fans have been phenomenal and a great atmosphere is being created.
The fans have made a massive difference. The way the team and the fans have evolved in the last 18 months has been phenomenal. We said we wanted to bring a playing style that West Ham fans love, and that's getting more people in, which is creating the atmosphere, which is giving us the energy that we need to try and get these points over the line.
We’ve been excellent in all of our last four games.
In the last four games we've played Chelsea, Brighton, Arsenal and now City, and I think we've been excellent in all of them. I think that's the confidence that the team has, we know we can get points off lots of teams.
We've got to make sure we do that away as well, that's the next thing. We've got to get over that hurdle and get more points on the road. That's going to be a real focus for us in the last few games of the season.
