Julia Simic admitted she surprised herself with her first two FA Women’s Super League goals of the season in the 5-0 victory at Yeovil Town Ladies.
The German swept home a brilliant finish to put the Hammers 3-0 up before half-time, before coolly slotting home to secure West Ham’s best ever FA WSL win in the second half.
Simic is used to providing assists more than scoring goals – having also provided the cross for Brianna Visalli’s header – but the No10 is delighted to find the net.
“Normally I prefer to give assists!” Simic told whufc.com. “Giving other players goals is my life on the pitch but it’s great to score as well. I’m really happy to score my first league goals against Yeovil. It’s such a good feeling.
Giving other players goals is my life on the pitch but it’s great to score as well.
Julia Simic
“We are thrilled. We’ve won three games in a row but today gave us a really good feeling. The other games that we won, they were really close games. They were tough games that, in the last 15 minutes, we really had to grind out the win.
“Today, we scored a lot of goals from our chances. We played some really good football and it was a really good win. It gives us a great feeling.”
Alisha Lehmann opened the scoring for the Hammers in the first half, squeezing home a strike, before volleying in at the far post to put Matt Beard’s side in control. Simic’s first then put the Irons up 3-0 before the interval.
Far from being satisfied with their lead, West Ham pressed for even more goals in the second half, finding them through Simic and Visalli.
“We said at half-time that we didn’t just want to sit back or just wait for the whistle,” Simic explained. “We wanted to press on, keep creating, and score more goals. We wanted to boost our goal difference and we are proud of how we are playing.
“We scored five and we could have scored more, and that’s a good thing. To score five is really good for us, but we would have liked more. It shows us how much potential there is in this team. It’s great that we can keep scoring and dominate over the whole 90 minutes.”
West Ham’s 2018 will come to an end on Wednesday with a Continental Tyres Cup match away to Charlton Athletic, and Simic is eager to end the year with a fourth consecutive victory.
She added: “Charlton are doing really well in the Championship and we want to keep winning. It’s a good test for us and we want to keep performing. We want to end the year with a win.”