West Ham United held as Birmingham City collect first point of the season | OneFootball

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·10 October 2021

West Ham United held as Birmingham City collect first point of the season

Article image:West Ham United held as Birmingham City collect first point of the season

Birmingham City have claimed their first point of the season in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League as they came from behind to draw 1-1 with West Ham United at The Chigwell Construction Stadium.

The hosts were looking to build upon their tremendous win last weekend against Manchester City whilst Birmingham City hadn’t got out of the starting blocks having taken no points from their opening four games. It will therefore be the Midlands club who will be happiest to have ended this afternoon’s fixture with a point.

West Ham United began the game brightly with Adriana Leon flashing a low cross across the face of goal but nobody was there to get on the end of it. That bright start quickly faded away as the game settled in and Olli Harder’s side struggled to penetrate the Birmingham City defence. There was only one shot on target in the opening 45 minutes and it went the way of the visitors. It came in the form of a tame left-footed effort from Lisa Robertson which was no trouble at all for West Ham United keeper Mackenzie Arnold.


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The Hammers got the scoring underway shortly after the interval and it came through a wonderstrike from former Birmingham City forward Claudia Walker. The hosts looked to break with the Blues having pushed forward, however, Walker was all on her own trying to weave through the defence. With so much left to do, she tried her luck from distance and what an effort it was, the ball curving away from the helpless Marie Hourihan and nestling into the far top corner.

That goal sparked West Ham United into life as they began to get a real stranglehold of the game and it seemed like a matter of minutes before they would get their second goal. However, against the run of play, Birmingham City found an equaliser. A corner was put into the area by Robertson and Arnold wasn’t able to deal with it under the challenge from Harriet Scott. The ball rebounded off the crossbar and fell to the feet of Louise Quinn who tapped in from close range.

The home side pushed hard for a winner but some good blocks from the Birmingham City defence meant that a second goal eluded them and the sides finished level.

The draw means that Birmingham City climb out of the relegation zone while West Ham United will be disappointed not to have collected all three points which would have moved them up to fourth place.

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