Olli Harder hopes that West Ham United Women will continue with their good run of form at the Chigwell Construction Stadium on Sunday.
The Hammers have only lost two matches in all competitions this season at their home ground in Dagenham, a massive improvement on the previous season where wins were hard to come by at home.
And the New Zealander is looking forward to another tough challenge against the Seagulls in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League.
“We’re expecting another tough contest against a good outfit,” Harder told whufc.com.
“We know that they’ve got a good amount of quality within their ranks – and are managed by Hope Powell, who is one of the best there is.
“But it’s about us on Sunday, we want to continue moving forward and solidify our place in the top half of the table.”
It’s been a season of positivity for the east Londoners – moving from a team that narrowly stayed up in the division last season to one that is consistently picking up points, and are well clear of the relegation shake-up.
And for Harder, it shows the progression that has been made over the past year by his staff and players.
“The first thing I said when I arrived at the football club was that we needed to close the gap to the tops teams in our division and be more consistent with our performances against them.
“We’ve taken a big step forward this season and still have five more league games to go, plus a semi-final to look forward to. I have to give credit to the players and the staff for taking the steps forward that we have done this season.”
After securing the win last weekend against Ipswich Town, the Hammers also have their Vitality Women’s FA Cup semi-final to look forward to. They will face Manchester City at the Chigwell Construction Stadium on the 16 April.
But before then, Harder’s side have two tough league matches, which includes one against their FA Cup opponents.
“As a team, we’re in a really good place at the moment – but we want to make sure we finish the campaign strongly.
“We want to go into the FA Cup game with some momentum behind us, and we’re aiming to do that by starting with a positive result against Brighton.
“They won’t make it easy for us, though, so we need to make sure we put in a good performance in front of our supporters if we’re to come away with all three points,” Harder concluded.
West Ham United Women take on Brighton & Hove Albion at the Chigwell Construction Stadium on Sunday 27 March 2022, with the match scheduled to kick-off at 3pm.
Tickets are available from the ticket office at the ground from 1pm.
If you can’t make it to the match, then you can watch live on the FA Player.
