West Ham United women’s team defender Amber Tysiak was pleased to make history on Wednesday night, as the Hammers claimed their first-ever point at home to Manchester City via a 1-1 scoreline at Chigwell Construction Stadium.
The women’s team picked up their first victory over the Citizens in October 2021, as a first Hammers goal from Dagný Brynjarsdóttir and a Yui Hasegawa strike earned the three points.
And with the Irons’ scintillating home form this term, it seemed inevitable they would pick up another historic result against City on Wednesday night.
West Ham had the better of the first-half chances in midweek and came closest to opening the scoring through Seraina Piubel’s low effort that was tipped behind by City goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita.
Following the Switzerland international’s chance, Riko Ueki and Shelina Zadorsky also had opportunities to put Rehanne Skinner’s side ahead. Meanwhile, opposition winger Lily Murphy bent a curling effort just wide of Kinga Szemik’s left-hand post before the break.
Continuing to battle to find a breakthrough, Skinner sent on Manuela Paví at half-time to inject some more creativity into her attack. Although Bunny Shaw broke the deadlock in the 80th minute, the manager’s change paid dividends as the winger burst into the box before finding the bottom-right corner in second-half stoppage time.
Centre-back Tysiak, who again played another 90 minutes at the heart of the Claret and Blue defence, was delighted to record another positive result in east London after last Sunday’s narrow defeat to Arsenal.
“It’s a great point,” said the No5. “It’s our first point at home to Manchester City in history, so I think we did very well.
“Against Arsenal we had a great performance but we were disappointed with the result, so it’s great to bounce back, and we’re happy to get a point from this game.
“This is why we’re so strong as a team, we never give up. We could have gone in front in the first half, but even when we conceded, we didn’t give up. It makes the point even better.
“I was so happy [when Paví scored]. We were so close to getting a point on Sunday, so it felt good [to get that late equaliser].
“The fans have been amazing this season and you can see by the results at home that they help us every game.”
The women’s team are now without a game until Sunday 23 March when Tottenham Hotspur visit Dagenham, and this will provide time for recovery for a lot of the players who were representing their countries during the February international break.
Tysiak said: “It’s (the break from matches) well-needed for some of us as we had the internationals. We’re looking forward to some extra days rest but also the training days as well.”
