West Ham United Women’s manager Olli Harder was disappointed that his side couldn’t pick up all three points against Birmingham City on Sunday afternoon.
The Hammers took an lead early in the second half through a fantastic strike from Claudia Walker, before Louise Quinn headed home from a corner to bring the game level at the Chigwell Construction Stadium.
And Harder was frustrated with only picking up a point at the full-time whistle.
“We needed to be more clinical in the final third,” Harder began. “Giving up a goal on a set piece is always very disappointing – I’m not happy with the result - parts of the performance I was pleased with, but we need to be a bit sharper and more consistent.
“They were physical, well organised and made it difficult to play. They deserve some credit because we weren’t good enough to break them down enough to win the game. We need to work harder to turn that one point into three.
“I thought our analysts and coaching staff did a great job of getting us prepared for this game, but we just couldn’t do enough to win it in the end.”
Harder’s frustration was evident at the full-time whistle, but he did praise Claudia Walker for her finish after dribbling from the half-way line – but he was disappointed that his team didn’t go on and add to their lead.
“It was a great finish from Claudia, but we had a lot of support runners coming in as well. The option to shoot was there, the option to pass was there, she took the shot and scored.
It was an important goal but what’s disappointing is the 10 minutes after that, because we really had the game in our hands, and we didn’t control the game in the period after the goal.”
And Harder admitted that at the full-time whistle that his team didn’t do enough to win the game – but that there are certainly positives to take into Wednesday’s Conti Cup match against London City Lionesses.
“We didn’t do enough to win the game,” he explained. “Bottom line is we had great mentality and great attitude, but we lack the application - if you don’t have the application, then you don’t deserve to win.
“The attitude was fantastic so I can’t fault that, you could see them pushing all the way to the end, trying to score, trying to win, never being passive.
“From a coaching standpoint that’s excellent and I appreciate that because it’s something we have tried to shape into the players. But you have to execute that if you want to win games and we didn’t execute when we had the opportunity.”
West Ham United take on London City Lionesses in the Conti Cup on Wednesday, with tickets available to purchase by clicking here.
