YEOVIL TOWN LADIES 0

WEST HAM WOMEN 5

IT WAS an afternoon to forget for Yeovil Town Ladies as they signed off on their final Women’s Super League game of 2018 with a 5-0 defeat to West Ham at the Clayson Stadium.

Manager Lee Burch lamented the performance and called for improvements.

Affairs started poorly for Yeovil and they were 1-0 down after 19 minutes.

Alisha Lehmann stole in, muscling her way past the home defence and fired home after some poor defending.

She then added her second just six minutes later when New Zealand international Ria Percival’s gorgeous cross from the right picked her out unmarked six yards out to volley home.

Julia Simic was then next to get in on the action and added a third on 34 minutes.

Right-back Percival again supplied a quality delivery to find Simic at the near post, the German attacking midfielder hooking a finish beyond Megan Walsh in the Glovers’ goal to nestle in the far corner.

Yeovil really did not get out of the traps in a disappointing start and had a mountain to climb in the second half.

While the Glovers slightly improved, West Ham continued to push forwards in the second half.

Nicola Cousins, a highlight for the hosts, went closest on 48 minutes as she latched on to a Hannah Short free-kick but goalkeeper Becky Spencer was equal to it.

Yeovil then conceded a third goal from crosses as their defensive vulnerabilities were exposed.

Simic’s peachy delivery from the left was met by the unmarked Brianna Visalli, who headed home emphatically to make it 4-0.

Simic then scored a brace herself just before the hour mark as she broke into the penalty area to fire home, Walsh’s outstretched leg taking the pace off the shot but failing to prevent it from hitting the target.

The Hammers had chances to increase their lead further and came close to a sixth as Lehmann was denied her hat-trick when her volleyed effort cannoned against the bar from Rosie Kmita’s cross but the misery ended at 5-0.

Yeovil host Liverpool in the league on Sunday, January 13 after the winter break with a big improvement needed for the fight for survival.

Elsewhere, goalkeeper Walsh has been voted as November’s PFA fans’ player of the month.

Yeovil: Walsh, Alexander, Syme (Evans 67), Cousins, Short, Fergusson (Albuery 83), Horwood, Heatherson, Gaylor (Bloomfield 58), Mason, Donovan. Subs not used: Goddard, Fischer, Piggott, Taylor

West Ham: Moorhouse (Spencer 46), Percival, Flaherty, Hendrix, Lafferty, Longhurst (Sampson 80), Simic (Reichardt 64), Visalli, Lehmann, Ross, Kmita

Attendance: 516

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