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 all three points on his first game in charge.
In truth, there wasn’t much to choose between the sides over the course of the game, with neither team able to mount sustained pressure on the other and the goalkeepers rarely tested. Shekeira Martinez had West Ham’s best chance in the first half, Lize Kop making a fine block, while Seraina Piubel arrowed a shot over the bar just after the restart in a further let-off for us.
We kept persevering, though, with Kit Graham a lively influence down the left flank on her return to competitive football after a year out with a knee injury, and we finally found the breakthrough with four minutes left.
More to follow...