Rehanne Skinner is hoping to see West Ham United women’s team use the positives from their FA Cup performance against Chelsea last week in their upcoming Barclays Women’s Super League fixture against Tottenham Hotspur.
The Hammers are back in league action for the first time since 17 December, where the league paused for the Christmas break. Skinner’s side picked up a point in their last WSL outing, a 1-1 draw with Leicester City at King Power Stadium.
That result, and the performance against Chelsea in a 3-1 defeat at Kingsmeadow has given Skinner and her side some confidence heading into the London derby at Chigwell Construction Stadium, which will see Skinner face off against her former Club for the first time since departing nine months ago.
In her pre-match press conference ahead of the match, Skinner looked ahead to the contest, which will be shown live on Sky Sports on 21 January (6:45pm KO).
There are so many positives that we were able to take from the Chelsea game.
That obviously gives the players confidence, and they know that they’re working hard to try and achieve the things that we’re setting out to do.
We played really well against the champions and current holders, and there’s so many things that we can take from the game.
I think for us just as a collective, we just want to try and get some of the rewards for all the hard work, and that's just the thing that's just around the corner. Things have felt like that for a little while, and we’re getting closer.
Ultimately, this weekend, is another opportunity to keep doing what we do. We're getting closer and closer to getting those results that we're looking for, and I've got no doubt that will happen soon.
Going up against Spurs is just another game for me.
I think wherever you are as a manager, your focus is always with the team that you’re with.
The main thing for us it about looking to try and get a result and carry on progressing forward in terms of thing that we’re trying to achieve. That’s all I’m interested in this weekend.
I think that our styles are quite similar to be honest. Both are attacking minded, positive in possession; it’s a good test.
I’m looking forward to the game, it’ll be a good test for us. We’ve got to make it tough for opposing teams, especially at home.
The impact from the new players has been fantastic.
That’s one of the reasons why the focus for the transfer window for me was about bringing in players with experience and leadership skills. It definitely changes the landscape of what’s going on.
90% of the time the players are in and around each other, and players run the changing room. We’ve got lots of young players who are desperately keen to learn, but they need to have a little bit more guidance around them.
Having three extra bodies in there that know what it’s like to play at the highest level definitely provides a balance within the squad. We’re going to need time to continue evolving this squad, and I think what we’ve done in this window marks a statement of intent as to what we’re trying to do.
It was an area that we needed to focus on to move forward in the second half of the season.
