West Ham United defender Grace Fisk is under no illusions that, at this stage of the season, points mean just as much – if not more – than performances.
The Hammers face Birmingham City Women at the Dagenham & Redbridge Stadium on Wednesday evening, seeking a first Barclays FA Women’s Super League win under new manager Olli Harder.
The fixture list has certainly been less than kind to Harder and his players in recent weeks, with their last game a 2-0 loss in east London against reigning champions – and current league leaders – Chelsea.
That game landed after a hugely productive international break, according to Fisk, who believes that – even in defeat – the fruits of such a spell of training were clear on the day.
The 23-year-old centre-back explained: “Obviously we’re still disappointed we lost, but Chelsea have some of the best players in the world on that team.
“To fight and compete, and only concede two goals – two goals we’re disappointed we conceded – shows that. In the last ten minutes we were pushing them and they were under a bit of pressure.
“We can sit here and just look at the result, which you have to when you look at the table, but for us as players you come off that pitch with a bit more confidence. Even though we lost, we lost and put a performance in.”
Now, Fisk asserts that the key is to move forwards from the result.
She continued: “That’s all well and good, but we’ve got to make sure we make those performances count against different opposition.
“If we have a bad performance against Birmingham, that’s unacceptable, but against a team like Chelsea you’ve got to take what you can get.
“That’s no disrespect to Birmingham as a good team with a good set-up, but likewise, they’re probably thinking they can pick points up against us. We’re looking to pick points up against them, so it goes two ways.
“There were lots of positives against Chelsea but we need to make sure we take our chances where we can.”
Birmingham currently sit ninth in the Women’s Super League table, just three points above the bottom-of-the-table Hammers.
It’s about putting in a good performance and getting a good result. Then, we’ll kick on
Grace Fisk
In between them lie Aston Villa and Bristol City, with competition sure to be fierce as all four teams toil to avoid the prospect of relegation to the Championship.
With that in mind, Fisk feels that both teams will have all to play for on Wednesday evening – but it is West Ham who could use it to kick on.
“It’s the same for both teams,” she said. “They’ll be training this week in full confidence thinking ‘this is a team we can get points off’ and we’re the same.
“It’s a big match for all of us. In the bottom five at the moment, it’s anybody’s guess who’s getting relegated, so every match is so important.
“Bristol City [a 1-1 draw] and Brighton [a 1-0 defeat] were awful performances from us. Spurs [a 0-1 loss] was a good performance, but we didn’t get a result.
“It’s about putting in a good performance and getting a good result. Then, we’ll kick on.”
In order to do so, Fisk knows she and her teammates will need to make their chances count.
The England international added: “We’ve been conceding but we haven’t really created much either. We need to win games, and we need to score to do that, so we’ve been working a lot in the final third on finding ways to break teams down.
“Birmingham play in a certain way. They’re a deeper team than Chelsea were, so it’s about breaking their block and finishing and getting goals.”
Kick-off on Wednesday evening is at 7.30pm, with the match available to watch live via the FA Player.
