Kate Longhurst believes West Ham United need to rediscover some confidence after a frustrating evening away to Reading.
The Irons were defeated 2-0 by the Royals at Adams Park in the midweek Barclays FA Women’s Super League fixture in a contest that, by Longhurst’s own admission, the away side did not perform anywhere near their best.
“I don’t think we really did ourselves justice,” the midfielder reflected. “We’re going through a little bit of a rough patch at the moment and I think that showed. Maybe we’re lacking a little bit of confidence.
“I don’t think we really created anything in the game. We got in some good attacking areas but we didn’t get the shots off, which was a frustration, and then we switched off for the two goals. It was a frustrating evening.”
We're going through a little bit of a rough patch at the moment and I think that showed. It was a frustrating evening.
Kate Longhurst
The result means West Ham are without a win in their last three matches, but Longhurst does not believe previous matches are the cause of Wednesday’s result against Reading.
The responsibility, according to the midfielder, lies with the players.
She continued: “I think, when you go on the pitch, you don’t think about past results. We’ve had a good week of training coming into this game and Beardy got us focused. He put a really good game plan together but, in the first half, we didn’t follow it. That’s on us as the players.
“When it’s going bad, sometimes it can be hard to turn things around. We need a little bit of luck and hopefully we can bounce back.”
West Ham United women’s team will now have a few days off before returning to training next week, ahead of a match at Rush Green Stadium against Liverpool.
Longhurst feels the side will benefit from a couple of days with their friends and family and is already looking forward to the next game, against her former side.
“We’ve got a few days off now which I think we need,” she added. “It will give us all a different focus away from football for a few days. Hopefully that can refresh us.
“At the end of the day, this isn’t a hard job. We’re professional football players, we’re paid to be here, and we love our jobs. Now we need to just find that little bit of confidence that we might need.”
