West Ham United more than deserved a draw against Reading FC Women on Wednesday, and could have even got the win, according to Becky Spencer.
The Irons opened their account in the FA Women’s Super League with a potentially tricky test at home to the Royals, who finished fourth last season, but more than held their own against the established side, earning a 0-0 draw.
Matt Beard’s side had the biggest chance of the game as well, hitting the woodwork through Alisha Lehmann, and goalkeeper Spencer believes West Ham can be delighted with their showing.
“We’re really pleased with how we performed in that game,” Spencer told West Ham TV. “Reading are an established team and they finished in the top four last season, and we’re a new team, but we really battled. The girls really got their teeth stuck into it today, and we could have come away with more than a point.
The girls really got their teeth stuck into it today, and we could have come away with more than a point.
Becky Spencer
“I’m really pleased with the clean-sheet as well. They were creating loads of chances and the conditions meant it was quite windy today, so the ball was flying all over the place. We defended really well and they defended well too. Both teams were going for it but neither could break the deadlock.”
Reading threatened the West Ham goal on occasion, forcing Spencer to make a number of good saves, including an impressive stop from a free-kick in the second period.
She continued: “It always nice to make good saves and keep clean-sheet. We always want to keep clean-sheets. The defenders have done their job as well. We’ve defended really well and they’ve come through.
“On the odd occasion, I’ve had to do my job, but I was happy with my performance.”
Having claimed a share of the spoils in their first league match, Spencer is confident the side will push on and give Arsenal a battle in Sunday’s match.
The Irons lost to the Gunners 3-1 in the Continental Tyres Cup earlier this campaign, but Spencer feels the side boasts enough quality to get a positive result.
“We were confident going into this game,” Spencer added. “We had a good pre-season and we’ve had good games. We kept a clean-sheet in the last match and we’ve come into this game thinking we could take something, and we did. We got a point and we’re happy with that.
“We’ll take confidence from this game into Sunday’s match with Arsenal. We’ve got a bit of bite about us. We’ve played against Arsenal before so we know what we’re coming up against.
“It will be a different game to today’s game with Reading, but we will go into it confident and hopefully come out with another result.”