Dave Maslen brings us the latest news from the West Ham United Ladies' Camp...
Woodbridge FC 3-2 West Ham Utd Ladies FC
Under 15s
The Under 15s' unbeaten run finally came to an end today, with an out-of-sorts display at Woodbridge. Perhaps suffering from several weeks of inactivity, the girls showed great endeavour to get back into the game with two fine goals having fallen 2-0 behind. At that point it looked like the win was on but a last minute, well taken Woodbridge goal meant it was all over.
Goals: Eleanor Landen, Hannah Humphreys.
West Ham Utd Ladies FC 3-0 Colchester Town
Under 13s
Our Under 13s kept their 100 per cent record intact but made hard work of the game. Having bagged goal after goal in recent games an air of complacency was the order of the day - but the Hammers picked the wrong game and wrong team for that.
The Colchester girls rekindled the form that saw them finish runners-up in their league last season, managing to play some excellent defensive football and crowding out the Hammers from the off. West Ham's girls seemed to run out of ideas with every attack failing in the final third. A lack of communication between the Hammers' players, some poor passing and too many individual efforts made it an uphill task to find the net.
It was a deflected shot from Amber Denton that finally put the Hammers in front and with Colchester snuffing out all other attempts on goal, the Hammers had to settle for a one goal lead at the break.
The second half saw a couple of changes in personnel with Maddie O’Connor and Sophie Kelly - both on their way back from knee injuries - taking to the field. Their creativity made a huge difference, with good passing coming from both wide players. Colchester were finally being put under pressure from all sides, but their goalkeeper was having a good day and made a string of excellent stops kept Colchester in the game.
Hannah Landen entered the fray and made an instant impact, scoring two well-struck goals and finally beating the Colchester keeper who, up until then, had looked unbeatable. The final whistle confirmed a three-nil win, but all credit should go to an outstanding performance from the Colchester girls who proved that on their day they are more than capable of giving any team a run for their money.
With a tough fixture coming up next week for the Hammers, who face a strong Ramblers side, manager Dave Maslen and assistant Steve Kelly will be looking for a vast improvement in team play and no more complacency.
West Ham Utd Ladies FC 5-0 Little Thurrock Dynamos
Under 11s
The Under 11s entertained Little Thurrock Dynamos at home on a pitch that held up excellently after this week's heavy rainfall.
Following a tentative start, West Ham started to find their rhythm and began to threaten the LTD goal. As the half progressed West Ham found themselves homing in on their first goal of the game which duly arrived through Lucy Brewster, who finally broke the deadlock with a nicely worked individual goal.
Soon after Sienna Sherman-Botton, making her league debut was on hand to tap home a second before Leigha Bradding-Butler was very unfortunate to see an excellent team goal disallowed.
Despite a very strong defensive effort by LTD, West Ham added to their tally in the second half with further goals from Holly Hutson and two more from Sienna Sherman-Botton to complete an excellent hat-trick.
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