Shekiera Martinez wants her West Ham United women’s team to turn the pain and frustration from our first two games of the Barclays Women’s Super League season into a spirited performance against Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday.
On the opening day of the 2025/26 campaign, a late penalty saw the Hammers slip the wrong side of a 1-0 scoreline at Tottenham Hotspur, before Arsenal secured a 5-1 success at Chigwell Construction Stadium last time out.
They were two tough pills to swallow for the Germany U23 international, who started both encounters and played a part in us taking the lead in Dagenham last Friday night.
After just five minutes, our No19’s cross from the right wing was palmed into her own net by Gunners goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar, and Rehanne Skinner’s side continued to go toe-to-toe with the UEFA Women’s Champions League winners for the remainder of the first period.
Martinez acknowledged the Irons haven’t shown our full potential so far this season, but insisted her team will look to put things right at Broadfield Stadium on Sunday.
“I think we know that the last two games weren’t our best, but now we have put them in the past and we want to focus on what’s coming now,” she said. “We all want to get some points and we want to get that first win of the season. I can see in training that we are all motivated for the game at the weekend.
“Rehanne said the first half and our pressing against Arsenal was really good, and much better than the match against Tottenham, so we want to take that into the game against Brighton.
“I don’t think it was a 5-1 game [against Arsenal], so in the end it was sad and frustrating because I thought we were really good in the game. We all had the feeling that we could get something from it, but we will turn this into anger and take it into the weekend.”
Martinez, who won back-to-back WSL Player of the Month awards in her prolific first half-season in English football, becoming the first West Ham player to win the accolade, was on target the last time the Hammers faced the Seagulls. In a commanding performance, she gave us the lead with an instinctive finish from close range, before goals from Riko Ueki and Viviane Asseyi sealed a 3-1 success in east London.
That was one of ten goals that Martinez scored in just 12 top-flight appearances in 2024/25 and she was subsequently crowned our Young Hammer of the Year, as voted for by the supporters.
Sunday's opponents, coached by Dario Vidošić, are also searching for their first three points of the campaign, having played out a goalless draw with Aston Villa before losing to Manchester City last Friday night.
“If we focus on ourselves and play how we have trained, I think we can win this weekend," Martinez continued. "I’m positive ahead of the game and I have a good feeling about it.
“I think we can achieve more than we did last season. I don’t think we deserved to finish ninth in the table. We will give our best to climb up the table at the end of this season."
