A late penalty from Bethany England gave us victory over West Ham United in our opening game of the new Women’s Super League season on Sunday.
The captain fired home from the spot in the 86th minute after Eveliina Summanen was brought down by Hammers skipper Katrina Gorry, settling an at-times cagey London derby at Brisbane Road and giving new Head Coach Martin Ho a 1-0 triumph on his first game in charge.
In truth, there wasn’t much to choose between the sides over the course of the match, with the goalkeepers rarely tested. Shekeira Martinez and Seraina Piubel went close for the Hammers either side of the break but we kept persevering, with Kit Graham a lively influence down the left flank on her return to competitive football after more than a year out with a knee injury.
We finally found the breakthrough with four minutes left, England hitting the back of the net despite West Ham’s substitute goalkeeper Megan Walsh getting her hands to the ball away to her left. That proved to be the difference, as we enjoyed our first WSL win since January.
Martin gave debuts to summer signings Toko Koga from the start and Cathinka Tandberg off the bench, while youngster Araya Dennis was handed her WSL debut. The first half didn’t yield much in the way of chances – both sides off target with a couple of attempts from distance – until the latter stages when a cheap corner wasn’t cleared and Gorry’s drive fell to Martinez in the box, but her effort was brilliantly blocked by goalkeeper Lize Kop.
Jess Naz fired over for us moments later before another big opportunity for the Hammers at the start of the second half when Seraina Piubel latched onto a cross at the far post but shot over from the angle.
West Ham goalkeeper Kinga Szemik had to be replaced moments later after landing awkwardly when saving a speculative Drew Spence effort that seemed bound for the top corner, but we didn’t manage to meaningfully test her replacement until the penalty as Walsh got a touch on England’s excellent spot-kick but couldn’t keep it out. There were appeals for a second penalty moments later when West Ham’s Ffion Morgan appeared to handle in the box as she dealt with a corner, but the referee waved play on and we saw out an extended spell of stoppage time to ensure we began the season with three hard-earned points.
