West Ham United women’s team defender Shelina Zadorsky has stated the side have complete togetherness heading into Sunday’s Barclays Women’s Super League clash at Aston Villa, acknowledging how much the squad are enjoying their football at the moment.
Rehanne Skinner’s Hammers, eighth in the WSL standings, are riding the crest of a wave with three consecutive victories and four wins in their last five games.
A busy three-game week has been all positive for West Ham so far, scoring eight goals, conceding just twice and ending the year in Dagenham on a high in front of the Claret and Blue faithful.
But, there is still one more task at hand for the Irons to tick off before the festive break: a trip to the Midlands to face ninth-placed Villa, who saw Robert de Pauw leave his position as manager in midweek and are set to be taken charge of by assistant Shaun Goater.
With the potential for the Irons to be sitting in the top half of the table come Christmas Day, Zadorsky and the rest of the women’s team are determined to give their all at Villa Park in the final showdown of 2024.
“We know no game is easy, cup game or league, so we need to recover, and definitely want to go into Sunday and win,” said the Canada international.
“You can really see us gelling together. Earlier in the season we had really good performances but not quite the results we wanted from games.
“Our attackers are becoming more and more dangerous the more they’re putting the ball away, and as a team we’ve come a long way. You can see that in the results and it feels good to be rewarded for the hard work we’re putting in.
“I think you can see it [on the pitch], people are enjoying their football. Everyone who comes into the games is doing well, whoever starts is doing well, so you can see we’re really together as a team and that’s what I love about this Club.
“Particularly this year, it’s felt really enjoyable to play football, and to get the results we have had has been really good.”
The defender joined the Hammers on loan from Tottenham Hotspur last January before completing a permanent switch to Chigwell Construction Stadium in the summer.
And Wednesday night’s victory over Southampton was special to Zadorsky, as she bagged her first goal for the Club, sweeping the ball home after Shannon Cooke’s header was parried away by goalkeeper Benedicte Haland to set Skinner's side on their way to a third win on the bounce in Dagenham.
“I feel like I don’t have a celebration!” she joked. “I just get really happy for everyone else who scores, so when it was me it was a bit awkward!
“It was all Shannon [Cooke] with the header and I was just there in the right place at the right time.
“Whenever I play at full-back I really want to get forward, so it was a fun game to play in and definitely fun to score my first goal for the Club.
“It was important for everyone to get minutes [on Wednesday] and showcase the depth in the team with really good performances. Obviously, for a defender, it was nice to have a clean sheet and we can carry this momentum into the Aston Villa game.”
