Gilly Flaherty has warned her West Ham United teammates against complacency when Huddersfield Town Ladies visit Rush Green Stadium on Sunday.
The Irons’ SSE Women’s FA Cup campaign continues with a fifth-round home tie against the Terriers this weekend, with the winners advancing to the quarter-finals of the competition.
Although Huddersfield play in the National League North, and are the lowest ranked team left in the competition, the West Ham skipper says the Hammers will still need to be at their best to get through Sunday’s match.
Huddersfield came back from a three-goal deficit to beat Championship side Charlton Athletic to earn a place in this fifth-round match, and Flaherty knows West Ham are in for tough game.
Huddersfield Town were three goals down, but they’ve come back and turned the game around. We have to respect that massively.
Gilly Flaherty
“We have to give Huddersfield credit, they produced probably the shock of the fourth round,” Flaherty told whufc.com. “They were three goals down, but they’ve come back and turned the game around. We have to respect that massively.
“They’ve shown they are a team that isn’t going to give up. I think their place in the pyramid means nothing. It’s a cup game and it’s a one-off, knock out match. It’s their cup final and they could be looking at us as the best team they could be facing right now, because our results haven’t been incredible as of late.
Grab your tickets for Sunday's FA Cup match with Huddersfield Town Ladies now here!
“It’s another chance for us to push on in the cup and go on a run. It would be great for the girls, but we cannot underestimate Huddersfield for one second.”
Although a win against Huddersfield would put West Ham in the last eight of the FA Cup, Flaherty insists West Ham cannot afford to get ahead of themselves and must fully focus on Sunday’s fixture.
She continued: “I think, in the FA Cup, if you can get a decent run, you can find yourself in a good position pretty quickly. We have to take it one game at a time though. We have to get through this game.
“We went 1-0 down against Blackburn and we need to be better than that against Huddersfield. Regardless of our opposition, we have to treat them like a top team. If you don’t have that attitude then we will put ourselves on the back foot.
“We haven’t earned anything yet. We’re a new team and we don’t have the right to have that arrogance yet.”
Tickets are priced at just £5 adults and £1 under-16 for this Sunday's FA Cup match! What’s more, with no men’s team game this weekend, if you’re an adult Season Ticket Holder, you can get in for only £2.
Tickets for this game are on sale now at eticketing.co.uk/whufc. Alternatively you can phone us on 0333 030 1966 or visit us in person at the London Stadium Ticket Office.
