Midfielder Sarah Brasero says West Ham United are eager to maintain their outstanding start to the Subway® Women's League Cup campaign when Brighton & Hove Albion visit Chigwell Construction Stadium on Wednesday evening.
The Hammers were in scintillating form in our last cup clash against Charlton Athletic in September. Courtesy of stunning goals and clinical finishing, we secured a 5-1 success against the Addicks, and Brasero was one of the scorers at The Valley.
Persistence paid off for the England U23 international, who won the ball in the penalty area before slotting home into the bottom-right corner - our fourth of the evening in south-east London, and her first goal for the Club.
Attentions now turn to our clash against the Seagulls, a 7pm BST kick-off in Dagenham, who were also victorious in their first Group C fixture, as they secured three points away at Portsmouth.
The two teams have already met in the Barclays Women’s Super League, which saw Brighton come off the better at Broadfield Stadium. Although the result didn’t go her side’s way, Brasero came on as a second-half substitute in the game to make her top-flight debut, and she wants the Irons to use the loss at the Seagulls as motivation for the League Cup meeting.
“Everybody’s really excited for the game,” she said. “We want to show a reaction to the previous games, so everyone will be up for it to show what we’re actually able to do. Naturally, we all know we can do so much better.
“Brighton are a good team that we’ve played before, so we want to show them that we can beat them this time. The whole squad wants to show something positive in the game.
“It (the match against Charlton) was a really good match to show my game and I think even the players that came on had a really big impact. Having five different goalscorers against Charlton shows the quality we have.
“As a group, we’re all so close, and everyone knows that if they get an opportunity, they're going to show up. It’s good that we have a lot of players who, if they don’t play one game, but play the next game, will show what they can do.”
It’s been almost three months since Brasero completed her move from Portuguese outfit G.D. Estoril Praia, and our No21 certainly feels at home in east London.
She said: “It feels like I’ve been here longer than I have, I was talking to Soraya [Walsh] about it. The group is just so tight and it’s so easy to settle in when it’s like that. I’ve just got on with everyone really naturally.
“I want to get goals and assists, so it was good to get the goal against Charlton to help the team win, and score my first goal for Club. I want to carry that on. Every time I get an opportunity I just want to score and help the team win.”
