Rehanne Skinner, the manager of West Ham, expressed frustration with the poor officiating in the Women’s Super League. She stated that she is growing tired of it. During their recent match against Chelsea, her team was wrongly denied a goal due to an offside call in the first half. This ultimately led to Chelsea’s 2-0 victory.
Aggie Beever-Jones and Erin Cuthbert punished a resilient West Ham for their profligacy in the final third as Chelsea moved back above Manchester City at the summit of the WSL table. It was not straightforward for the visiting Blues and, had Honoka Hayashi’s effort not been incorrectly flagged offside 15 minutes in, it could have been a much nervier affair for the visiting team.
Honestly, it appeared that when we scored the goal, which was clearly more than a meter onside, the game would have changed entirely for us at half-time,” Skinner explained.
“I’m becoming frustrated, to be honest. We have had opportunities today that we need to capitalize on, but the course of the game is constantly disrupted by these avoidable mistakes. We must address this issue in order to maintain the integrity of the game.”
Emma Hayes was pleased to have Mayra Ramírez and Nathalie Björn back and ready to join the bench. She also made three updates to the lineup from the previous 3-0 win over Ajax on Tuesday.
After her team’s 3-1 loss to Liverpool last weekend, Skinner noted two key differences.
Chelsea had a strong start to March, aiming to achieve six wins out of six games. They still have two matches left this month. However, despite their quick start, the reigning champions did not have complete control throughout the game. West Ham missed opportunities to score in the first five minutes and ended up trailing by one goal at home. It is worth noting that Chelsea has an impressive record of 12 consecutive wins in the WSL when they score first.
In under a minute, Viviane Asseyi connected with Riko Ueki’s pass but her header narrowly missed the target. The team was quickly penalized when Chelsea passed the ball to Lauren James on the left and she played a backwards pass to Beever-Jones, who then scored.
After a strong beginning, West Ham suffered a disappointing setback with Jessica Ziu delivering a dangerous cross to Kirsty Smith, who missed her mark and failed to score from a close range.
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In the 14th minute, Hayashi scored a goal after receiving a headed pass from a free-kick. However, the referee mistakenly raised the offsides flag, even though Lawrence had kept her onside.
“I am dissatisfied with the situation. If I performed my job in this manner, I would not have this job,” stated Skinner with frustration. “This kind of mistake happens too often… Apologies after the game do not alter the result.”
The manager has requested VAR, stating that many are discussing it. They are willing to use it in order to ensure accurate results.
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The officials involved in this game do not possess professional qualifications, which means they are not fully dedicated to these matches. This needs to be addressed and improved upon.
Shortly after, the home team was dealt another setback when the key midfielder Katrina Gorry was substituted due to an injury, being replaced by Marika Bergman Lundin. Despite this, West Ham continued to pose a threat, with Ueki hitting the crossbar after a strong run from the halfway line and Asseyi missing a chance after being set up by Hayashi.
The challenge was significant, as the opposing team had not lost in their last 11 WSL matches against West Ham dating back to 2018. They had recorded 10 victories and one draw against their London counterparts. However, West Ham put up a strong performance at the Chigwell Construction stadium.
Recognizing the danger posed by the Hammers, Hayes made substitutions of Cuthbert and Catarina Macário, and then later Ramírez and Fran Kirby, within the first 10 minutes after the hour mark.
With only two minutes left in regulation, Chelsea scored another goal to increase their lead. Cuthbert brought down Macário’s corner and powerfully struck it into the top of the net.
Chelsea is successfully continuing their progress in all four competitions, currently ahead of Manchester City based on goal difference. “We recognize the potential of all our opponents. Our team scored two impressive goals, but our performance was not up to par today,” Beever-Jones commented.
This is our standard at Chelsea – we strive to win every game and achieve success with strong performances. However, we fell short today. Despite not meeting our usual standard, we have matches every three days, so we must be content with our performance and move on to future games.
Source: theguardian.com
