Kirsty Smith is enjoying playing under Rehanne Skinner at West Ham United.
The 29-year-old defender has just entered her second season in Claret & Blue, having joined from Manchester United in the summer of 2022, and has been involved in all five of the women’s team’s fixture across all competitions so far this term.
And under new manager, Skinner, the Irons have started the 2023/24 season positively. So far, the Hammers have picked up four points in the Barclays Women’s Super League, producing positive performances in narrow 2-0 defeats to both Chelsea and Manchester City, whilst coming out on top against Brighton & Hove Albion, a game in which Smith notched her first West Ham United goal and drawing 1-1 with Liverpool.
They also navigated a tricky opening Continental Tyres League Cup group stage match, coming from behind to beat Charlton Athletic and make a solid start to the competition.
Smith has enjoyed playing under the new boss, which has seen her deployed mostly as an attacking wing-back with licence to marauder forward. With another busy fixture schedule of league and cup action to come in November, Smith is hoping that the Irons will continue to show the positive progress they have made so far under Skinner.
“Everything so far has been really positive so far this season,” she told whufc.com.
“I think you can see the progress that we’re making in trying to implement the style of play that we want to produce in every game. We’ve been able to show that no matter the opponent, which has been really pleasing.
“We’ve really focused on ourselves so far this season, what we’re good at and how we want to improve, and we’re reaping the rewards for that. We might not have won every game, but I think as a group, we’re all really pleased with what we’ve been able to produce performance wise in the opening five games.”
Smith opened her account for the Club on a sunny afternoon in Crawley, the Hammers’ second fixture of the new season. Riko Ueki’s strike was palmed away by Brighton goalkeeper Sophie Baggaley, but wing-back Smith had followed in, and was able to scramble the ball over the line to give her side the lead.
Ueki would add a second in the second half to secure the win as the team produced a hardworking and committed performance to not only come out on top, but also preserve a clean sheet.
Scotland international Smith was pleased to grab her first goal for the Club and is pleased to see those characteristics being shown every time to team step out onto the pitch.
“I’ve waited a whole year to get my first goal, so it was a really positive moment for me,” Smith explained.
“It’s nice to be up in an area of the pitch where I have an opportunity to score. As a defender that doesn’t normally come around too often – but I think that really highlights how positive our style of play is this season. I enjoy the attacking side of the game, and whilst we had to dig in towards the end against Brighton, I think we were able to show how positive we want to be this season in that game.
“We want to be a side that goes out there and really give it all. That has to happen in every game, and I think fans will have seen that so far. We have to keep making sure that we keep producing those types of performances, whilst also picking up points as we move forward into the season.”
With Bristol City up next at Chigwell Construction Stadium, the Hammers will be hoping to pick up further points as they look to move up the WSL table. Ahead of the contest, a number of players have been away on international duty, with some of those not returning to England until a couple of days prior to kick-off in east London.
“It’s difficult when you don’t have the whole squad here leading up to a game, but most Clubs are in the same boat. We just have to make sure we maximise the sessions that we have with the whole team before the game.
“For us that are here and haven’t gone away with our countries, we have to make sure we’re constantly on it, ready for when everyone else returns to maximise the time we have to prepare.
“Bristol [City] will be another difficult game. I think it will be slightly different to any of the other games so far this season, but that doesn’t mean that our approach veers what from we’ve done so far. We want to make sure that we’re focused on what we need to do to come out of the game with a win, and that our standards stay as high as possible."
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