Manager Rehanne Skinner has insisted her West Ham United women’s team have learnt a lot from our opening two Barclays Women’s Super League fixtures of the season, and will take those lessons into the trip to Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday.
Back-to-back London derbies against Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal awaited the Hammers at the start of the fresh campaign, and Skinner has seen positives from both performances to take into Sunday’s clash at Crawley - both in her side’s defensive resilience and pressing intensity.
The Irons defeated the Seagulls, who are also looking to chalk up their first points of the season, in their previous meeting, securing a 3-1 success at Chigwell Construction Stadium in February - and Skinner wants the team to use that as a positive for the weekend.
Meanwhile, Skinner is boosted by the news that she has a fully-fit squad for the trip to Brighton, meaning goalkeeper Kinga Szemik is in contention to return to the side following her injury on the opening day of the season against Spurs.
Skinner sat down in front of the media at Chadwell Heath on Thursday afternoon to look ahead to Sunday’s game, and here are the main talking points from her media briefing.