Katharina Baunach believes West Ham United got their just reward for not giving up during Sunday’s thrilling 3-2 victory over Manchester United.
Having twice gone behind, and after losing Leanne Kiernan to two yellow cards, the Hammers claimed an incredible three points thanks to Laura Vetterlein’s headed effort and two exquisite set-piece finishes from Baunach herself.
With Baunach’s winning effort coming as Sunday’s game crept towards injury time, the German was adamant that the entire team deserved credit for claiming the victory, the win coming thanks to their hard work and effort throughout the entire game.
“It was a really important win for us,” the No11 told whufc.com. “It was really important for our minds because everyone is really working hard, every single day. It’s the team and the staff working behind the team. Everyone is great at working together and that is why we won today – because everyone wanted it from their heart.
”We had a good reaction. We were not impressed with their first goal that we conceded. Everyone was fighting for the ball and each other. It was really important to stick together, especially after losing Leanne. We didn’t give up today and this was our reward. We fought for every ball and the whole team did a good job!
“This wasn’t just a performance from one player; it was a really great team performance. We saw a team that was fighting for each other, which was the effort we needed for this game.”
Baunach’s ability from free-kicks is renowned in world football and the full-back showed her sensational ability from dead ball situations twice on Sunday, netting from two different angles to give Matt Beard’s side the victory.
With all three of her West Ham United goals coming in her last two matches, Baunach is enjoying a fruitful goalscoring run in Claret and Blue.
She continued: “This moment was amazing! I felt good. I wanted to take the ball and just try it, and I’m really happy that I could help my team today with two goals.
“It’s incredible for every player to score. I took the ball and I felt good to help in getting the win.”
With a big match next week against Liverpool comes the chance to keep the winning momentum going in the build-up to the Christmas break, and Baunach is confident of claiming another three points.
She added: “We want to take this effort into the next week and we will focus on the Liverpool game. We want to get the best results possible. This was a good start.”
