West Ham Women U18 v Watford Ladies U18

A fantastic experience for the 11 players we had available today, playing against a very good West Ham Academy under 18‘s team. It was a real battle for all players against the full timers who were technically excellent with pace in all positions.

In the first half the players were understandably nervous, and we conceded six goals in the first half from excellently timed runs from the West Ham forwards.

We were much better in the second half as the team began to relax and get to grips with their opponents but our lack of cutting edge, due to all of our forward players missing this game meant that we were unable to convert the opportunities that we did create or have any genuine pace with which to stretch our opponent sufficiently and give respite to our midfield and defence. We conceded three goals in the last 15 minutes as the girls tired and West Ham were able to rotate players and bring on subs.

Overall it was the invaluable experience to compete against players of the same age at the top level and the aim going forwards is to try and bridge this gap in future games.

All players will have learned something from this game and can be proud of their efforts and attitude which was a credit to themselves and also the club. All the players got a full 90 mins workout which will stand them in good stead for the coming season and help in their player development.

Player of the match was Hannah Weber who has constantly improved during pre-season and looks set to prove a valuable addition for us this season.