Manager Rehanne Skinner hailed the quality of her side’s goals in our 5-1 success at Charlton Athletic in the Subway® Women's League Cup on Wednesday night.
The Hammers were in red-hot form at The Valley. Ffion Morgan gave us the lead after 18 minutes with a clinical finish before Manuela Pavi, having only just come on to the pitch, thrashed one home from 25 yards out.
Finding the same corner, Leila Wandeler produced an audacious nutmeg before curling in a stunning strike, which restored our two-goal lead after Katie Bradley found the net after her penalty was saved by Megan Walsh.
Number four was soon on its way, though, with Sarah Brasero’s effort kissing the post on its way in before Shekiera Martinez rounded off the scoring with a powerful strike into the roof of the net.
It was a terrific evening in south-London for the Hammers, as we rose to the top of the early Group C standings, and Skinner admitted competition is high ahead of our Barclays Women’s Super League fixture against Chelsea on Sunday.
We’re delighted with the goals we scored and the way that we played.
I think we showed a really solid, mature performance in the game today, including being down to ten at the last through an illness. I think the way that we performed, the positivity in front of goal was really, really good to see.
When I saw Paví' shape up, I thought, ‘Oh, okay!’
And then she hit it with some venom! It's a great strike, a really good strike. Obviously, it's so nice to see the way that the team celebrated together when she came over to the sidelines. That's how much it means to the team when people score.
Leila did a bit of trickery and then the finish is really detailed, it’s a really great execution. And the goals that we scored earlier on in the game were because they're (Morgan, Brasero and Martinez) determined and trying to get something out of an opportunity. All those bits matter.
We have these unbelievable goals today, which is fantastic, but then there's the grit and determination that creates the ones that start off a little bit scrappy, but they took really well as well. So, yes, just really good all round from the goals.
Players have taken an opportunity today.
They've delivered on that. It's fantastic for the team and for the squad overall. We've had Emily [Taylor-Brown] and Selin [Cemal] that have had their first competitive debut today as well. So there’s loads of positives to take out of the overall squad.
We’re in a three-game week and Chelsea’s the next one.
This was an important win for us and I think it gives a little bit of confidence. It gives us an opportunity to think about difficult decisions for us for the weekend with the squad, which is obviously what you want as a manager. We're really pleased with the way we've played.
