West Ham United Women took part in a behind closed doors friendly match against Barclays Championship side Charlton Athletic to begin their pre-season preparations.
With the new Barclays Women’s Super League season still over six weeks away, the Irons welcomed the Addicks to Little Heath on Saturday morning as they looked to build up match fitness ahead of the new season.
First team players were given 60 minutes of action in a match that saw the Hammers squad supplemented with Academy players and a number of trialists.
Charlton meanwhile begin their campaign against Sheffield United on Sunday 27 August, and made a strong start to the contest in east London. Defender Keira Skeels rose highest in the box from a corner kick and nodded beyond Katie O’Hanlon with two minutes on the clock.
The Hammers responded immediately and should have pulled the game level. Nice build-up play from Princess Ademiluyi and Keira Flannery saw Kirsty Smith played in on the left, but she couldn’t keep her first time effort down.
They continued to grow into the contest, with Lisa Evans a constant outlet when trying to break forward. She combined with Flannery to allow Mel Filis to let fly from just inside the area on 28 minutes, but the midfielder couldn’t find the target with her effort.
Just before the break, Evans drilled a cross into the path of an onrushing Ademiluyi, but the Young forward couldn’t get that all important touch, and the away side remained in the lead as the first half came to a close.
When play resumed, Filis had a golden opportunity to pull the game level, but she was denied by a good save from Addicks goalkeeper Sian Rogers.
On the hour mark, several Academy players entered the fray, alongside a number of trialists, with first-team players being eased back into match action in their first pre-season outing.
Charlton then found their groove, scoring four goals in the final 25 minutes. Doubles from Melissa Johnson and Angela Addison put the game firmly beyond doubt.
West Ham United: O’Hanlon, Smith (Chapman 60), Tysiak (Cooke 10) (Trialist D 75), Cissoko (Duffy 60), Denton (Mammeri 60), Flannery (Trialist C 60), Filis (Trialist B 60), Evans (Ademiluyi 60), Ademiluyi (Stapleton 46), Trialist A, Harries (Mohamed 60).
Full Time Score: West Ham United 0-5 Charlton Athletic
Filis enjoyed opening workout against the Addicks
With plenty of time to go until the new WSL season begins, Mel Filis believes that it's good that the Hammers were able to take on a strong Charlton side in their opening match of pre-season.
Indeed, the side managed by Karen Hills have been back in pre-season training since the first week of July, with some players playing the full 90 minutes in the fixture on Saturday.
"We know that they're a lot further along in their preparations than we are at this stage, but it was a really good test for everyone today and a really positive afternoon," she told whufc.com.
"I came off feeling good on 60 minutes, and I probably could have played a little bit longer, so that's a really good sign for me personally.
"It's great to get those first minutes into your legs and be out on the pitch playing in matches again - as well a trying to implement some of the bits that Rehanne [Skinner] wants us to start thinking about."
Their were debuts for new signings at Little Heath, with both Jessie Stapleton and Emma Harries getting minutes, and Filis enjoyed playing alongside them.
"It's really good to have them both with us this season. I think you can see already that they're going to add different things to the squad. I know Emma well from our time on England camps which helps.
"As a team, we're in a good spot physically. Now we need to start pushing forward with the remaining weeks that we have until the campaign begins."
Ismail: Today was a good starting point for us
Head of Physical Development Kemal Ismail echoed Filis' feelings on the first pre-season fixture ahead of the campaign.
"I think we can summarise today as a good starting point for us," he said.
"It was nice to play against tough opposition who are only two weeks away from the start of their season in our first game. It's good for the players to get their first 45 or 60 minutes in the tank.
"Things fell away towards the end when a lot of our first team players were taken off, but that isn't a concern at this stage because our main focus was always about getting in those first minutes today."
This fixture against the Addicks is the first of a number of behind closed doors fixtures that the Hammers will play in ahead of the new season. Ismail explained how the pre-season schedule is structured to test the players ahead of the new campaign.
"Our pre-season will be structured in a way that see's the level of challenge go up as we move forward. We have another friendly against Championship opposition to come, before more behind closed doors matches against teams in our division to really test ourselves ahead of the new campaign.
"We want to expose ourselves to different types of teams and build up our robustness and injury prevention within our squad.
"it's great that we've been able to use the first couple of weeks of pre-season to build a base fitness wise of where we need to be. Now, we hope that Rehanne will be able to come in next week, hit the ground running and implement her philosophy on the squad - and we're all really looking forward to that."
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