West Ham United Women’s boss, Paul Konchesky was pleased to see his side advance into the quarter-finals of the Continental Tyres League Cup on Wednesday evening.
The Irons played out a 0-0 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion at Broadfield Stadium in their final match in Group C, which was enough to see them top the standings.
In truth, Konchesky’s team had numerous chances to win the clash, with Lisa Evans, Viviane Asseyi and Dagny Brynjarsdottir all going close on a freezing cold night in West Sussex.
At the other end, Mackenzie Arnold kept out efforts from the home side, but she was rarely tested with anything threatening.
A penalty shootout was played out as a formality, with Brighton taking the bragging rights. Megan Walsh saved efforts from Mel Filis, Grace Fisk and Halle Houssein, but it meant nothing for either side.
Konchesky is now looking forward to facing up against Liverpool in the quarter-finals next Wednesday (25 January) at Prenton Park.
We’ve done what we set out to do when the group was drawn
We always knew it was going to be tough because cup games always are, regardless of what level of opposition you’re up against.
Our reward for topping the group and getting the job done is a tough trip up to Liverpool. It’s one we’ll look forward to because we want to go as far as we possibly can in the competition.
We want to be competing on as many fronts as possible
As I’ve said previously, we relish the opportunity to be do well in all of the competitions that we enter, and that means we’re going to be challenged in terms of the number of matches that we’re going to play in a short space of time.
We’re heading into a run of games that will see us play across all three, and we need to make sure that we’re ready to do that.
We wanted to get the three points and we had the chances
Particularly in the second half, we had a number of really good opportunities around 60 minutes into the game. On another day, we put some of those away and come away with a win. It wasn’t to be, but we’ve got the job done and that’s the most important thing.
It’s massive for the backline and Macca to get another clean sheet
Particularly as we head into a busy period of games, it’s nice for the players to have that confidence.
Obviously Macca wasn’t able to keep any out in the shootout, but it didn’t mean anything in this scenario anyway, and we know how good she has been at keeping them out over the years.
The next round will be tough, but we will be well up for it
If you can’t get yourself up for a quarter-final, then you shouldn’t be in football. It’s a realistic opportunity for us to take a step closer to the final and even potentially win a trophy this season, so we’re looking forward to it.
