Manager Rehanne Skinner waxed lyrical over her West Ham United women’s team’s outstanding attacking display following her side’s 7-1 thrashing of Crystal Palace in the Barclays Women’s League.
It was a simply stunning display from the Hammers, who were clinical, ruthless but brilliant with the way they put Palace to the sword at the VBS Community Stadium.
Germany U23 international Shekiera Martinez stole the show, as she netted four of the Irons’ goals, which included a first-half hat-trick. The forward headed home the opener on 18 minutes before she claimed the matchball with two goals at the end of the first period, remaining cool under pressure on both occasions to put Skinner’s side into an unassailable lead.
Martinez continued where she left off at the start of the second period, finishing past Shae Yanez with a composed strike to net her fourth, and Viviane Asseyi soon got in on the act with a stunning goal from 25 yards.
Substitute Emma Harries came close to getting a matchball herself, as she netted two late goals. The first was an audacious clipped finish into the top-left corner before she tapped into an empty net following great persistence from Princess Ademiluyi.
The Hammers boss could only sit back and applaud the free-flowing attacking football on display in south London, as her team notched the Club’s biggest-ever victory in the WSL.
We were outstanding.
We're delighted with the result and the way that we were as an attacking threat, I thought we were outstanding today.
Shekiera’s [Martinez] got four goals, different types of goals as well, and Vivi [Asseyi] scored her seventh goal in the WSL this season. That's the most goals she's ever scored in a season in the WSL. And then Emma Harries came off the bench and gets two, so it was a fantastic performance all round.
The backline and Kinga [Szemik] did such a good job of managing the line and making that really difficult for them to get in behind. That caused them a few problems, so I’m really pleased and really proud of the players for their performance today.
Shekiera is showing why we brought her to the Club.
We talk about her every week, right? She's got Player of the Match again today. I think it's just such a credit to her, the way that she's applied herself since she's come into the league, but also how quickly she’s connected with the players around her.
She was the number nine that we wanted to bring in, and it's because of the way she plays off those other players. Technically, she's superb. She just knows exactly where the goal is and just has the confidence to score.
The substitutes made a real impact, and we're delighted for Emma.
They've [the substitutes] all done that [made an impact] today. The squad depth is good and we've got players that can add value to the game. I'm so pleased for her [Harries], and Princess [Ademiluyi[ has got herself into a fantastic position. The goalkeeper made a good save and then she just had the foresight, as a young player, to find a great pass for Emma to score her second. The teamwork collectively has been a fantastic result all round.
Viv's goal was superb.
I think it's going to be a Goal of the Month one for sure. When she [Asseyi] picked it up, I thought to myself ‘she's got so much space, but she's going to hit it’. And as soon as it was hit, I thought, ‘that's it’. The technique she used was superb. When she backs herself in those situations, you think she's going to score anyway.
We made life difficult for Crystal Palace.
The way that the players are playing and finding each other, and creating good quality opportunities, it's just such a positive way to get the result. I think just credit goes to the way that they're all gelling together and how they're trying to find each other.
I've said to them consistently, Crystal Palace had to throw everything at it today. So there was a real risk of this being a real threat to us because they have to win to stay up. We wanted to give them the respect for that as well. I just think the way that we controlled the game made that difficult for them.
But in order to compete in this league, we can't just get a point against City or United, we've got to be able to make sure that we get these results, and that then makes a difference in the table.
