Rehanne Skinner has hailed the hard work of everyone involved in the West Ham United women’s team set-up ahead of their final match of the campaign - a trip to Leicester City on Saturday.
The curtain will come down on the Hammers’ 2024/25 season at King Power Stadium when the Irons visit the eleventh-place Foxes, and the visitors know a win - and other results going their way - could see them match the Club’s highest finish in the Barclays Women’s Super League (sixth).
This season has been one of evolution for the women’s team, who, after collecting their first league win of 2024/25 in November - the reverse fixture between them and the Foxes - have gone from strength to strength, picking up results against the league’s big hitters and setting new records in the process.
Skinner, who recently penned a new contract extension at the Club, was asked in her pre-match press conference about the possibility of achieving a top-half finish but, while she stated it would be a brilliant achievement from her side, she admitted the team have their feet firmly on the ground prior to the trip to Leicester.
The manager was also questioned on the talents of Shekiera Martinez, who has lapped up the awards this week, including the women’s team Young Hammer of the Year and Goal of the Season, WSL Player of the Month - for a second successive time - and PFA WSL Fans’ Player of the Month.
The Germany U23 international received a lot of praise from her boss, but Skinner was also quick to credit the rest of the team for making her feel so welcome and bringing out the best of the forward, who has ten goals in eleven WSL outings.
Here are the main talking points from Skinner’s final presser of the campaign.
We've made significant progress on and off the pitch
I think overall, this season [we've] probably evolved more than what we might have hoped, in the way that the players have gelled together and our performances in the second half of the season that have led to points. It wasn't that the performances weren't great beforehand, we just never found a way to win that we wanted.
So I think the progress that's been made on and off the pitch has been significant and we've been pretty consistent with that, which makes a difference in this league.
I'm really proud of the work that everybody's done within the team. The staff have been superb and the players have been committed to it (the plan) right from the word go. I think that's the reason why we are where we are at the moment.
That's a real positive step for the trajectory of the Club and the journey that we're on. I'm really pleased with everybody and proud of everyone's efforts.
Leicester will pose a tough test
I think it's going to be a big battle away from home. Their pitch is a bit bigger than the ones we've been playing on of late, so that's something we'll have to manage a little bit differently.
Their form has improved, they're hard to break down, they have been all season, and that's credit to their defensive organisation.
We know it's going to be a tough test. I think it's going to be a case of focusing on what we know we're good at and trying to ensure that we deliver on that consistently. We want to get as many points out of the game and finish on a real positive, given everything that we've done [this season].
We’ve just got to choose the right moments to be really forward-thinking and threatening. I think it's going to be important that we look after the ball, that we don't force things, that we choose the right moments.
We've been pleased with aspects of every performance
There's a few [performances] that stand out [from the season]. I think the first half against Arsenal away [in March] was really, really positive for us. I thought we started the game really, really well. We have had moments where we've probably not started as quick as we've wanted to, and that was definitely a real positive.
I think the second half against Chelsea [in the cup] in January was a really important one. We lost the game 2-0, we didn't start well again in that one, but in the second half, I thought we were really effective and caused a lot of problems. And also when we then played them [in the league in March], we drew the game.
When we have turned it on and we have delivered those 45 minutes' worth of football, we've been a threat to everybody. So bringing that together is going to be really important.
But there's been loads of games, some of which haven't gone our way actually, that I've been really pleased with overall. There's been massive chunks of every game where we've been really pleased with a lot of the aspects of the performance.
Shekiera settling into the team is a massive credit to the whole squad
I think when you actually know her (Martinez) as a person and the way that she's performing, I think her capabilities are obviously really, really high.
I think the other thing that needs to be spoken about with this is that you never get an individual performing like that without the people around her. Her settling into the team has been a massive credit to all the players in this building, because that's led to her being able to be confident, feel valued and as part of the group really, really quickly.
Of course, that's a massive credit to her and the way she approaches games, but it's also a massive credit to the people around her that have looked after her and made sure that she has been able to settle in quickly.
And that's the ethos across the whole team, they all feel like that. They don't get individual accolades without the rest of the squad, and that's really important.
Finishing in the top half would be a fantastic achievement
I just think [finishing in the top half] would be a testament to all of the work that's gone on. Internally we worry about us, and where we end up at the end of the season is where we'll deserve to be. I've said that from day one, you can’t cheat the table. So if we do end up in the top half of the table, fantastic from everybody.
Everyone's worked so hard for that, so it would be a fantastic achievement for the Club.
We've got to just keep our feet on the ground for one more game, the job's got to be taken care of and we can't be thinking about the end result before we've actually played the game.
