West Ham United women's team 0-2 Aston Villa
Barclays Women's Super League, Chigwell Construction Stadium, Sunday 5 October, 11.55am BST
Two goals in the space of seven second-half minutes condemned West Ham United women’s team to a 2-0 defeat at home to Aston Villa in the Barclays Women’s Super League on Sunday.
Rehanne Skinner’s side created plenty of chances to get something out of the game at Chigwell Construction Stadium, going closest through Ffion Morgan, Shekiera Martinez and Viviane Asseyi.
But two well-taken goals from Kirsty Hanson and Lynn Wilms took the game away from us and secured the Villans the three points.
In blustery conditions in east London, it was hard for both sides to play the ball on the ground and Eva Nyström was caught out early on, as her pass went straight to Hanson. The Villa midfielder tried her luck from range but Kinga Szemik, scampering back to her line, was on hand to save.
From then on, the Hammers enjoyed a lot of the ball and our confidence noticeably grew as the first half went on.
We battled well, and Asseyi’s persistence in the middle of the park helped fashion our first chance of the game, slipping Morgan through down the left, who tried an outside-of-the-boot finish with her right that dropped narrowly wide.
It wasn’t long before we forced another opportunity. Asseyi was again at the heart of the action, delivering a corner that Shelina Zadorsky knocked down to Martinez, who blazed over from inside the six-yard box.
The Germany U23 international soon had another chance to open the scoring midway through the first period. Receiving the ball from Morgan, she shifted onto her right before her powerful effort from inside the area cannoned off Asseyi and out for a goal-kick.
Bar Hanson’s early, speculative effort, Villa had rarely threatened in the first period, but fashioned two key chances via the trickery of Chasity Grant. After her near-post cross was prodded just wide by Rachel Daly, she then teased a low ball across goal that Hanson couldn’t convert from close range.
As the first half drew to a close, on her first WSL start in Claret and Blue, Yu Endo made a crucial intervention to stop Ebony Salmon’s cross finding Rachel Maltby, who would have had a tap-in.
Villa continued where they left off at the start of the second period, with Zadorsky doing well to meet Wilms’ free-kick before Océane Deslandes’ ball back into the area was claimed by Szemik.
A big chance soon fell our way, though, as Endo dug out a cross on the right flank to pick out Asseyi, but our No20 sent her diving header wide of the mark.
Not taking our chances soon proved costly, as Villa netted two goals in the space of seven second-half minutes to gain full control of the game. First Hanson curled the ball into the top-left corner before Wilms sent a free-kick on the edge of the box beyond Szemik.
The away side nearly had a third with 20 minutes to play when Grant’s bobbling strike from inside the box came back off the post.
Continuing to hunt for a route back into the contest, we forced Sabrina D’Angelo into making a double save with eleven minutes to play. First the Canada international clawed away Katrina Gorry’s curling strike before holding Riko Ueki’s powerful drive.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t find the goal to create a grand-stand finish and it ultimately ended in defeat for us in east London.
West Ham United: Szemik, Endo, Nyström, Zadorsky, Endo, Siren (Wandeler 86), Gorry ©, Morgan, Asseyi, Ueki, Martinez (Piubel 61)
Subs not used: Walsh (GK), Tysiak, Paví, Csiki, Brasero, Hanshaw, Houssein
Booked: Siren, Asseyi
Aston Villa: D'Angelo, Patten, Kearns, Daly © (Taylor 63), Wilms, Salmon, Hanson, Kendall (Mullett 81), Grant (Mayling 94), Deslandes, Maltby
Subs not used: Kelly (GK), Clark (GK), Tomas, Parker, Sallaway
Goals: Hanson 60, Wilms 67
Booked: Kendall
Referee: Grace Lowe
Attendance: 1,286
Skinner: We looked much more together
Manager Rehanne Skinner hailed her side’s performance in their Barclays Women’s Super League clash with Aston Villa at Chigwell Construction Stadium.
The Hammers created an abundance of chances in east London to break the deadlock against the Villans, coming closest through Viviane Asseyi just after half-time, who sent a header from close range wide of the mark.
The visitors then went up the other end and scored twice in seven minutes - two goals that Kinga Szemik couldn’t do anything about.
Skinner also praised the work of Yu Endo in her post-match interview, who made her first WSL start in Claret and Blue on Sunday, and denied Villa a certain goal in the first half before crossing for Asseyi’s chance in the second.
If you just look at the result, it isn't exactly what we wanted, but the performance today, out of possession in particular, I thought was excellent.
It's our strongest game so far. I We conceded a couple of set-pieces that we could have done a little bit better on, although it's a good strike and credit to them for that. The central free-kick we conceded, we could have dealt with much higher up the pitch.
It's only those slight moments that have then essentially cost us the game. Equally, we've got a wide, open goal before they score. If that goes in, it's a different story.
I think the biggest thing is we looked much more together today than what we have in previous games, and that's obviously been something that we said we were trying to work towards. So I'm pleased with the players for that.
In and around the final third, we were a little bit too tentative in and around the box.
We were a little bit hesitant with some of the decisions [in the final third]. I'm asking them a lot at the moment to be a little bit more positive, be a little bit more direct in and around the box to find runs, passes and take people on. If we weren't creating chances, that's a bigger issue. We definitely are doing that, and we're doing a good job at getting up into these areas.
I thought she (Endo) was tremendous today.
I think some of the stuff she does defensively, she's so alert to the opposition, her reaction speed is really high. I thought she was excellent.
She's been working hard behind the scenes. She had a set-back just before the season started with a cut from when we played Arsenal in pre-season, so it put her back a little bit, but her capabilities have been obvious. It's the reason we signed her. She's such a positive full-back going forward and she will create chances for us like the one today.
We’ve got Brighton in the week and we've got an opportunity to go and give a better account of ourselves.
Obviously, there's a big squad, so it's an opportunity for people, and they've got to make my life difficult for a decision [on the team] for the weekend.
Denton: We didn't take our chances
Defender Anouk Denton recognised missed opportunities cost West Ham United women’s team in our Barclays Women’s Super League clash with Aston Villa in Dagenham.
Two second-half goals put the contest beyond us, but they came after we created good chances to break the deadlock.
Ffion Morgan bent a right-footed shot wide early on, before Shekiera Martinez skewed an effort over the bar from inside the six-yard box.
Then in the second period, Viviane Asseyi sent a header from close range wide of Sabrina D’Angelo’s goal before the Canada international made two saves in quick succession to deny Katrina Gorry and Riko Ueki.
“It was really disappointing [to lose], said Denton. “Especially as we were really on top in the first half.
“We were really aggressive in our press, which is something we want to do, and we won the ball back a lot high up the pitch.
“We just didn’t take our chances, you're not going to get hundreds of chances and we're good at creating them, but we aren't finishing them. That's what's setting us apart and other teams then go to the other end and punish us for it.
“[Rehanne Skinner said] that we were unlucky and we played a lot better than last week with our high press, and we were really up for it. We were just really unfortunate and we need to look back on the game, and reflect on what we can do to prevent those goals and score at the other end.”
England U23 international Denton played at left centre-back against Villa, with Ffion Morgan playing ahead of her in a wing-back role, and our No18 insisted how much she enjoyed playing with the Wales international.
“I love playing with Ffion,” she said. “She's speedy, so I can just play her the ball and she can run at people. Villa had pace up their right side so it was to counteract it. We're on the same wavelength.
“We need to reflect on this game quickly and then focus on Brighton, and then on London City at the weekend.”
