Martha Thomas believes West Ham United displayed their clinical streak for the first time this campaign in Sunday’s 3-1 Barclays FA Women’s Super League win away to Brighton & Hove Albion.
Thomas opened the scoring with her second league goal of the season this weekend with a cool, left-footed finish, before Kenza Dali and Alisha Lehmann secured the result in the second period.
It was the first time this campaign that that Irons had scored more than once in a match, despite creating numerous chances in every fixture, and Thomas believes the Hammers showed just how ruthless they can be against the Seagulls.
“It was important to get the goal early in the first half,” Thomas said. “Obviously, we missed some chances in our last game against Tottenham, so to get some goals in this game is something we’re really pleased with.
“We were clinical at the right times and we killed the game off.”
With a pacey front three comprised of Thomas, Lehmann and Leanne Kiernan – making her first start of the season – West Ham’s attack caused Brighton all sorts of problems at the People’s Pension Stadium, with driving runs from out wide in particular an issue for the Seagulls defence.
“We had success out wide and we recognised that as the game went on,” the No9 continued. “It wasn’t something that we considered too much, but we picked up on it during the match. We found success out there.
Buy your tickets for West Ham United women's team home match with Tottenham Hotspur Women this weekend now here!
“Sometimes, the final product in terms of crosses or decisions was missing, and if we found that I think we would have scored a lot more than three.”
Having come into last Sunday’s match on the back of a home defeat by Tottenham Hotspur, Thomas knew it was essential for the West Ham squad to regroup during the international break and work hard together to get back to winning ways.
With Spurs awaiting this Sunday in the FA Women’s Continental League Cup, with kick-off at 3pm at Rush Green Stadium, the forward is delighted that West Ham were able to do exactly that.
She added. “It was a really disappointing result against Tottenham. We had almost 25,000 people at London Stadium and we couldn’t get the right result for them.
“We needed a bit of time, I think, to gather our heads, and I think we’ve had a really good week of training. The girls that were on internationals came back in on Friday and we’ve prepared really well for this game, and it showed.”
