Women’s Super League: West Ham 1 Arsenal 9
Arsenal cruise to a comfortable 9-1 victory over London rivals West Ham in front of a crowd in a pilot event at Victoria Road - the home of Dagenham & Redbridge.
A hat-trick from in-form Jill Roord, a brace from Vivianne Miedema and goals from the likes of Kim Little, Leah Williamson, Caitlin Foord and Beth Mead secured the three points for the Gunners as they run riot against 10 player Hammers.
West Ham duo Gilly Flaherty and Alisha Lehmann were handed starts in the first home match of the season to mark their 50th appearances while England International Rachel Daly came into the team.
The Hammers looked bright in the early stages with attacker Adriana Leon turning and volleying a shot on target which was pushed wide for a corner by Manuela Zinsberger.
The visitors Arsenal then had a few of their own half chances before West Ham’s Daly collided with Arsenal goalkeeper Zinsberger as the latter rushed out to win the ball in the 11th minute.
Daly was booked, as was Grace Fisk shortly after, and then captain Gilly Flaherty in the space of five minutes as they tried to pose a physical threat on the match.
In the 19th minute the Gunners had to make an early change as Steph Catley was forced off through injury being replaced by Katie McCabe.
Two minutes later Jordan Nobbs was denied by Mackenzie Arnold after some fancy footwork from Lia Walti to play the former in down the left.
Arsenal did strike first in the 23rd minute as the in-form attacker Jill Roord found the back of the net but the lead last not even five minutes with West Ham hitting back.
French midfielder Kenza Dali drove the ball home with a volley from the edge of the box to get West Ham back into the contest.
The hosts then had a lot to thank 26-year-old goalkeeper Arnold for as she denied Nobbs from point blank range.
England International Mead raced down the right flank and played the ball into Nobbs who was all alone inside the box but Arnold pulled off a wonder save before then denying 25-year-old Mead who hit the rebound.
Arnold then pulled off yet another save as Vivianne Miedema tried to chip it home as the Dutch forward raced forward in the 32nd minute.
The Women’s Super League top goalscorer not even a minute later then did find the back of the net to restore Arsenal’s lead.
West Ham captain Flaherty was then sent off after picking up a second yellow card for dissent as she appeals the goal that she believed was offside.
Arsenal then started to run riot with captain Kim Little netting in the 40th minute and then Beth Mead scoring a beautiful strike two minutes later to take a 4-1 lead into the half-time break.
The visitors started the second-half where they left off as they added another just seven minutes in as Katie McCabe picked out Roord at the back post for the latter to net her second goal of the match.
Two minutes later things only got worse for the Hammers as Dutch forward Miedema matched Roord by grabbing a second and stretching their lead to 6-1 as she fires beyond Arnold into the roof of the net.
Roord clearly wasn’t happy to see her fellow attacker match her record so decided to drill home an effort into the bottom left corner to complete her hat-trick in the 56th minute – making it two hat-tricks in the opening two fixtures.
Arsenal made a number of changes but did not ease up as substitute Caitlin Foord kept the ball in play from an over hit corner where she played it back into England defender Leah Williamson.
The 23-year-old picked out the back of the net with a real composed finish to make it 8-1 in the 72nd minute before Arsenal then made it 9-1 thanks to substitute Caitlin Foord with four minutes left to play.
West Ham Women: Arnold, Fisk, Flaherty, Vetterlein, Pacheco, Cho, Dali (Van Egmond 45), Svitkova (Redisch 45), Lehmann (Grant 67), Daly, Leon (Kiernan 74)
Unused subs: Brosnan, Dunbar, Cruickshank, Longhurst, Nor.
Arsenal Women: Zinsberger, Maritz, Williamson, Schnaderbeck (Gut 69), Catley, Walti, Little (Van De Donk 58), Roord (Foord 58), Nobbs, Miedema, Mead (Evans 58).
Unused subs: Stenson, Maier, Mace.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here