West Ham Women were beaten 3-0 by Manchester United on Sunday
West Ham were outclassed by Manchester United on Sunday as the Red Devils took all three points from a one-sided affair at Leigh Sports Village. Former West Ham forward Martha Thomas opened the scoring against her former club before Grace Fisk’s own goal and Leah Galton’s second half strike sealed all three points for the home side.
Olli Harder lamented his team’s lack of desire when he spoke to whufc.com after the final whistle.
"“We just lacked a real presence today and lacked the intensity that we need to compete. When we’re not competing for first and second balls, then the game becomes stretched, more complicated. Credit to Manchester United, they looked like they were hungry for the points, and they deserved to take all three.”"
Harder made one change to the side that beat Reading last weekend as Tameka Yallop came into the side in place of Emma Snerle.
Manchester United were almost ahead in the opening minutes of the match as Ona Battle forced Mackenzie Arnold into a fine save down to her right.
West Ham made a mess of clearing the ball from the resulting corner, leading to an opportunity for Thomas to open the scoring but she was unable to break the deadlock as she fired narrowly wide of the goal.
United made their early pressure count when Thomas put the home side ahead in the 12th minute. Leah Galton’s perfectly weighted cross form the left wing sailed over the head of Kate Longhurst, allowing Thomas to head in from point-blank range.
It took some heroic defending on the goal line from Fisk and Dagny Brynjarsdottir to stop the home side from doubling their lead shortly after they had scored their first. Arnold came for a cross but missed her attempted punch, forcing her teammates to make two goal-saving headers on the line behind her.
The Hammers couldn’t deny United a second goal for long though. Fisk diverted Thomas’ cross past her own goalkeeper after the United number nine had burst past Longhurst on the right wing.
Adriana Leon had West Ham’s best chance of the first half when she was fond on the edge of the box by Zaneta Wyne’s pass. But the Canadian forward couldn’t generate enough power on her shot to beat Mary Earps in the Manchester United goal.
Leah Galton added a third for United shortly after half time, but the credit for the goal belonged to Alessia Russo and her outstanding cross from the right. Russo had three West Ham players surrounding her but somehow still managed to turn and fire a powerful low cross into the six-yard box. Galton slid in at the near post to divert the ball into the net from a couple of yards out.
Ella Toone thought she had added a fourth for her team only for Arnold to make another outstanding save to deny her.
West Ham couldn’t find a late consolation as the match ended without them making a meaningful impression in the game.
West Ham play their final match of the season next Sunday as they host Arsenal. The Gunners are vying with Chelsea at the top of the WSL and Jonas Eidevall’s team could lift the trophy at the Chigwell Construction Stadium if they better Chelsea’s result against Manchester United.