West Ham United women moved up to seventh place in the Women’s Super League on Sunday, after beating Bristol City women 2-0 at Rush Green Stadium, with Alisha Lehmann and Jane Ross scoring the goals in the Irons’ final home game of 2018.
Lehmann opened the scoring on 13 minutes when she made a direct run towards the penalty area, fighting off a number of players along the way. The Swiss international fired a shot at goal, which was deflected to wrong-foot Sophie Baggaley and sneak in at the near post.
The winger could have made it two on 68 minutes, as Esmee De Graaf fired in a low cross, but somehow, she managed to fire over from six-yards.
Points Confirmed
In the closing stages of the game, as the Vixens searched for an equaliser, Ross sealed the three points for the Irons. A poor back pass to the goalkeeper was played in to the path of Ross and she slotted it in to the back of the net to guarantee West Ham’s third league win of the season.
Having already struggled with injuries this season, a concern for the Irons will be Leanne Kiernan’s injury, as she limped off at half-time to be replaced by De Graaf.
‘Six-Pointer’
After the game, captain Gilly Flaherty spoke to the official West Ham United website and said: “It’s a massive result for us. I said in the week that today’s game was a six-pointer. It was a big game. We needed the points and we couldn’t take anything less than the three.
“It might be a game that we look back on at the end of the season and say ‘that was a big one for us. That was a vital three points that we needed.'”
Going Forward
Up next for the Irons is a trip to Brighton & Hove Albion women next Sunday at the Broadfield Stadium, which is also the home to League Two side Crawley Town. In their last game the Seagulls lost 4-1 to league leaders Arsenal Women.
Speaking ahead of the game next week, Flaherty said to the official West Ham United website: “We’ve got Brighton away next week and Yeovil away, which are two hard games to go away to.”
