Chelsea 2-2 West Ham, Women's Super League: Post-match reaction

03/30/2025 01:30 PM

Not good enough

Chelsea Women's streak of matches versus Manchester City over the last two weeks didn't take as much of a toll on our squad as it did City's. To ensure we avoid as many issues from tiredness as possible, manager Sonia Bompastor rotated as many pieces in the starting lineup as she could while keeping a cohesive unit on the pitch to face West Ham at Kingsmeadow.

It didn't take long for things to start clicking, with West Ham players throwing their bodies around to block our shots against their goal. Eventually the efforts would bear the expected results with Maika Hamano opening the score with a volley.

It didn't take long for Chelsea to double the lead. Cat Macario held the ball int the box and Aggie Beever-Jones took her chance at goal to make it 2-0 for us in the first 20 minutes of play.

We kept pushing for a third score, but we weren't paying enough attention to West Ham's attacking pairing of Riko Ueki and Shekiera Martinez. It wasn't much of a surprise when the former assisted the latter for West Ham's first goal

Chelsea started the second half seemingly satisfied with a single goal lead in the scoreline. They only woke up when the Hammers started pushing forward and forced Hannah Hampton's hands a couple of times.

The line we were walking on only got thinner as West Ham saw more opportunities for a tying goal against Chelsea. They finally got what they wanted in stoppage time, with Martinez earning a brace.

Perhaps a team not as knackered as ours would have gotten something out of a late push for a goal. But the push came out way too late, and the Blues themselves knew that.

• Plenty of rotation in the squad, from Ashley Lawrence and Niamh Charles starting as fullbacks to Catarina Macario playing the no.9 role.
• Good strike from Maika Hamano, who didn't get much playing time during our Manchester City run.
• Really hard keeping clean sheets when the centre-back pairing stops working at least once a game. Naomi Girma can't return soon enough.
• Next up: Liverpool in the Women's FA Cup semi final.
• KTBFFH.