ROYALS HAMMERED AT HOME BY FIVE-STAR WEST HAM
READING WOMEN 0 WEST HAM WOMEN 5
IT WAS an afternoon to forget for Reading Women as they were thumped at home by West Ham United Women.
The Hammers started the day as the bottom side in the Women’s Super League but raced into a 3-0 lead within the opening 11 minutes at the Madejski Stadium.
The Royals’ horror-show continued as they were stunned in a disastrous first-half that saw them 5-0 down at the break.
They managed to stop the flow of goals in the second-half but fell to a detrimental defeat.
Reading manager Kelly
Chambers was left ‘gutted’ with the performance of her side.
"I don't think we came out with the fight and desire today that
I ask the girls to come out with,” said Chambers.
“We tried to play our game but West Ham pressed us more aggressively than they normally do.
"I thought we caused our own problems in the first half. We didn't show the adaptability that we showed against Manchester City and it simply cost us today.
"The players are gutted with the result and we should have played better. We've got to show our pride to finish as high as we can in the league.
“We apologise to the fans for our first-half performance as it was unacceptable."
Chambers’ side stay in seventh place in the WSL table and have now gone five games without a win in the league.
West Ham took the lead just seven minutes into the game as Kenza Dali’s cross looped over the head of Grace Moloney and found the top corner.
The visitors continued their early pressure and added a second just a few minutes later as Katerina Svitkova was left completely unmarked at the back post and nodded in from close range from Kate Longhurst’s cross.
The Royals were stunned in the early stages and the match was all but done just 11 minutes in as the Hammers added a third goal to maintain their superb start.
Reading gave up possession cheaply in their own half and were picked off by the potent West Ham attack. Martha Thomas chipped the ball over Moloney and the Reading defence couldn’t claw the ball off the line as their nightmarish start continued.
Reading looked to an unlikely route back into the game as Jess Fishlock, in her final appearance for the club before returning from her loan spell, looked to produce from magic from deep but her long-range shot was collected comfortably by the goalkeeper.
West Ham deepened Reading’s woes in the 29th minute as they sliced open the defence with some quick play to find the net for the fourth time. Thomas traded passes in the box and was left with a tapin to claim her second goal of the game.
Thomas sealed her first-half hattrick in the 37th minute and condemned Reading to the most miserable of first-half displays with a fifth goal.
Daly lifted the ball over the top of the Reading centre-backs to find the penetrating run of Thomas who beat the offside trap and delightfully lifted the ball over Moloney to earn a stunning hat-trick.
The Royals looked to salvage some pride in the second-half and Rachel Rowe came close to clawing back a consolation goal as she was found by Danielle Carter on the edge of the box but curled her shot inches wide of the far post.
Rowe came close again when she hooked a ball goalwards but was denied by the fingertips of Courtney Brosnan who tipped the ball over the crossbar.
The second-half ended without any more damage to the scoreline as the Royals head into the latest international break having suffered their most disappointing defeat of the season.
There are just four games left in Reading’s WSL campaign, but they turn their attention towards the FA Women’s Cup with a home tie against Tottenham Hotspur Women on Sunday, April 18.