The West Ham manager, Rehanne Skinner, said she is “getting sick” of poor Women’s Super League officiating after her side were denied a first-half equaliser by an incorrect offside call, before Chelsea went on to secure a 2-0 win.
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.
“To be honest, it seems like at the time that we scored the goal, which was more than a metre onside, obviously we go in [at half‑time] in a completely different landscape,” Skinner said.
“I’m getting a bit sick of it to be honest. We have had chances today and obviously we need to make sure we take those chances but just the way that the game goes on, we just cannot keep having those types of mistakes because it completely ruins the game.”
Emma Hayes welcomed back Mayra Ramírez and Nathalie Björn who were deemed fit enough for the bench and made three changes to the team which secured a 3-0 defeat of Ajax on Tuesday night.
For Skinner, there were two changes after her team’s 3-1 defeat against Liverpool last weekend.
Chelsea’s attempt to go six wins from six games in March, with two still to play this month, got off to a quick start, but it was far from one-way traffic for the reigning champions. West Ham should have been two up inside five minutes, but instead they found themselves a goal down at home to a team that have won 12 of the past 12 WSL games when they have scored first.
In less than a minute Riko Ueki’s ball in was met by Viviane Asseyi. But the forward’s header flew agonisingly wide. They were instantly punished, with Chelsea working the ball to Lauren James on the left who clipped it backwards into the run of Beever-Jones who turned in.
It was a bruising concession following an impressive start and West Ham continued to look dangerous, Jessica Ziu’s cross met by Kirsty Smith but the unmarked Scotland defender put her effort wide from close range.
Hayashi put the ball in the back of the net in the 14th minute, after a free‑kick was headed into her path, but the flag was inexplicably up for offside despite Lawrence playing her on.
“It’s not good enough, the bottom line is if that’s how I operated in my job, I wouldn’t be in my job,” said an outraged Skinner. “It’s a frequent occurrence … Apologies post the game don’t change the outcome.”
Calling for VAR the manager said: “A lot of people are talking about VAR ... If that’s what we need to do to get results right then that’s what we need to do.
“Ultimately the referees still aren’t professional in this game so they’re not actually in a situation where they are solely focusing on these games and I think that has just got to change.”
There was a further blow for the home team not long after, with the influential midfielder Katrina Gorry going off injured and Marika Bergman Lundin coming on to replace her, but still West Ham would threaten, Ueki clipping the ball off the crossbar after a run from the halfway line and Asseyi putting the ball over after Hayashi had found her.
The task was a big one, with the visiting team unbeaten in their past 11 WSL games against West Ham, going back to 2018, with 10 wins and one draw against their London rivals, but West Ham were not a pushover at the Chigwell Construction stadium.
Sensing the threat the Hammers’ posed, Hayes sent on Cuthbert and Catarina Macário, followed by Ramírez and Fran Kirby less than 10 minutes later, just past the hour mark.
Chelsea got the goal to give them more of a cushion with two minutes of normal time remaining, Macário’s corner taken down by Cuthbert who lashed it into the roof of the net.
Chelsea continue to march on in all four competitions, above Manchester City on goal difference. “We don’t underestimate anybody. Two great goals from us but the standard wasn’t there today,” Beever-Jones said.
“It’s the Chelsea standard for us, we want to win every game and win with good performances and we weren’t up to scratch today. We weren’t up to standard but we have games every three days so we have to be happy with it and we got the job done.”
