Guest Post by Rugby Irons
West Ham Ladies 3 Coventry 0
Julian Dicks and captain Stacey Little led West Ham to a convincing win in Coventry on a dry cold Sunday.The crowd was enlarged by WHITD readers from the East and North as well as the Rugby Irons and were the majority of the main stand.
The visitors were out of the blocks and had Coventry pegged back by the exciting Sara McCrea whose quality crosses gave the home keeper problems aplenty.The Hammers were sharp and moved the ball quickly (on the floor I might add) and were in control. After twenty five minutes we got the breakthrough. Sara again got a quality cross deep into the box and there was the lurking Lily ‘Allen’ Mellors to head home sharply.
Tails up, now skipper Stacey Little went marauding forward and although she sliced her shot from twenty yards it fell into the box and invitingly into the path of Vicky Kinsman who took a touch and then nestled her shot into the corner. West Ham were well on top and then the referee let a free kick go to play advantage, much to JD’s and our bewilderment. However, the cross came in and there was the alert McCrea to score at the near post ,much to the amusement of us all including the referee who gave JD a wry smile.
As we settled for the second half the temperature dropped hut the women stayed firmly in control. The home keeper,Nikki Duncan, a recent ex Hammers GK, put in a stunning second half producing great saves, one after another. Her best was tipping a stinger on to the bar and as the ball dropped in spun back off the ground only for Nikki to stick up a hand and stop it crossing the line. She won’t make that save her again! Then the magic moment for the away fans.
The Coventry winger tried to break down the flank with our full back in hot pursuit and as they passed us Julian shouts out ‘no foul,no foul’. The whole part of the West Ham end of the stand just burst out laughing. You couldn’t write it!. The last part of the game became open as tiredness crept in, but Stacey and her central partner Danica Revell were awesome and with my player of the match Zoe Lipley-Hinton running herself ragged the lady Irons brought home a fully deserved clean sheet very impressive three point away win. Great stuff.
Into the bar afterwards and Julian and the players mingled freely and were a pleasure especially Stacey who is clearly a leader in all respects. I then had the chance to get the legend to sign a T-shirt of himself which I then donated back to the club to hopefully auction and raise some money for the women’s team.
Overall a great afternoon out ,a quality west ham clean sheet win and the legend himself.In closing I would just say if you are a Hammers fan and get the chance to support the girls you won’t be disappointed. Well done WHUFC women’s team.
Steve
aka Rugby Irons