West Ham get their first win of 2021 spearheaded by Martha Thomas hat-trick.
This 5-0 away victory over Reading brings a first league win for manager Ollie Harder and West Ham’s first since a 4-0 victory over Bristol in December.
It was an almost unchanged squad from the one that lost to Manchester United last week, but the Hammers had a clinical edge that’s been missing from a lot of good performances under Harder as they scored five goals in the first half.
Goals came from French international Kenza Dali and Czech midfielder Katerina Svitkova inside ten minutes before Thomas added her hat-trick all before the half.
First Half Goal Rush
West Ham were immediately on the attack and seven minutes, their first real opportunity came as Thomas headed over from a well delivered Svitkova cross.
It took the Irons just one more minute to break the deadlock when Dali’s cross from the right-hand side ended up looping over a helpless Grace Moloney in the Reading goal.
Within four minutes it was three after Svitkova headed home from a tight angle on the ten-minute mark and Thomas added her first after a good drive from the midfield by Dali.
Reading began to settle into the game and create some chances of their own. However, Cecille Kvamme won possession in the midfield and after a well-worked play with Thomas, played the striker in for the easiest of finishes for her second.
Just eight minutes later, Thomas got on to the end of a through ball from Dali and chipped the Reading keeper completing her hat-trick and securing a five-goal cushion all before half time.
Harder’s Systems Benefiting
Throughout the game West Ham looked very happy to let Reading have the ball and this trend continued through the second half.
Reading had most of the shots and most of the possession throughout the second half with Courtney Brosnan being called into action more than once in the half, but West Ham’s defensive rigidity limited Reading’s quality of shot.
Harder stuck with the three at the back, that has yielded good performances in recent weeks. But we saw West Ham shut out defensively like they’ve struggled to do all season with Hawa Cissoko putting in a good performance replacing the suspended Laura Vetterlein.
The Relegation Battle
West Ham went into this game week rooted to the foot of the Women’s Super League table and on poor enough form that they might have been many people’s relegation favourites.
But this week’s three points has seen themselves leapfrog both Aston Villa and Bristol who lost to Everton and Arsenal respectively, combined with West Ham’s far superior goal difference and their safety looks a lot surer at the end of this week than the start of it.
Despite the five-goal attacking display, Harder highlighted the team’s defensive strength as they’ve struggled to keep clean sheets this season, “The clean sheet is massive for us. It’s a huge confidence boost to go out and get a clean sheet against a good Reading side.”
After a well-deserved first win of the year for West Ham, they now have a two-week rest before taking on fellow relegation rivals Aston Villa in a game that can all but secure West Ham’s WSL status.
