West Ham United women’s team forward Shekiera Martinez has won the Barclays Women’s Super League Player of the Month award for the second time in succession.
The 23-year-old, who joined the Club last summer, became the first-ever Hammers player to win the accolade, in March, and has now won the award again for her performances in April.
Germany U23 international Martinez, whose first appearance in England’s top flight came in January following her loan at SC Freiburg for the first half of the season, helped Rehanne Skinner’s side hold third-place Manchester United to a goalless draw at Chigwell Construction Stadium before scoring four goals in the women’s team’s record-breaking 7-1 success at Crystal Palace.
Netting a first-half hat-trick, the second Hammer to do so in the WSL, Martinez shone at the VBS Community Stadium.
She opened the scoring with a header before curling home a brilliant left-footed effort, and then rounded Palace goalkeeper Shae Yanez to score her third of the afternoon.
Starting the second half as she finished the first, Martinez latched on to Viviane Asseyi’s pass and found the bottom-right corner with a clinical one-on-one finish to become the first West Ham player to score four in a single WSL game.
The striker, who saw off Brighton & Hove Albion’s Michelle Agyemang, Manchester City’s Kerstin Casparij and Aston Villa duo Chasity Grant and Kirsty Hanson for the award, is currently third in the top-scoring charts, having netted ten goals in only eleven top-flight appearances.
Everyone at West Ham United would like to congratulate Shekiera on winning back-to-back WSL Player of the Month awards!
