West Ham United secured their first point of the season in the 1-1 home draw with Aston Villa on Saturday.
And for goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold, it felt as though the Hammers had let two points slip through their fingers, after the visitors had equalised in the final moments of the match.“It’s unfortunate that we weren’t able to get the win today”, Arnold told whufc.com.
“I want to give credit to the backline – it was tough to keep them out for as long as we did because we were under quite a bit of pressure in that second half.
"It’s frustrating because we were so close, but we need to learn from this experience and make sure it doesn’t happen again this season.”
Olympic gold medal winner Adriana Leon had paved the way for what could have been the Irons first win, when she pounced on a loose ball to fire the hosts ahead.
And the Hammers could have extended their lead, with Dagny Brynjarsdottir coming close with a header, which went straight at the Villains 'keeper.
“If we take those chances, it becomes a different game,” Arnold insisted. “That’s something we need to improve on moving forward. We had lots of opportunities in the first half and one big chance in the second, so we need to be making more of those.
“I think we need to put our chances away earlier so we can be on the front foot. But to be honest the overall feeling is disappointment because we were so close to all three points.”
“I haven’t really given too much thought to my own performance to be honest, it’s just disappointing to lose the three points right at the end. I was happy with my game, but my focus is on the team and trying to get our first win on the board.
"I suppose if we look at it from another perspective, it’s our first point of the season and we have something to build on now.
"We’re back here against Leicester with another chance to pick up all three points, so we need to take the lessons from our opening two matches and try and do better.”
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