Arsenal Women 4-3 West Ham Women
Report by Layth Yousif
at Meadow Park

ARSENAL staged a thrilling comeback to stun sorry West Ham at a raucous Meadow Park on Sunday evening.

With the Gunners struggling at 3-1 down after the interval, a trio of goals in six astonishing second half-minutes turned this gripping match on its head, as Renee Slegers’s side recovered to win 4-3.

Two early Irons goals shocked the home support, in a crowd of 3,621, as the sun went down on a glorious early spring afternoon in Borehamwood.

An unlikely brace in the opening 12 minutes from centre-back Amber Tysiak, put West Ham 2-0 up, before they added a third early in the second half through Shekiera Martinez, after Chloe Kelly had pulled a goal back moments before the interval.

Speaking after the match, Slegers said: “It was a rollercoaster, this game.

“I think we put ourselves in a situation, we paint a scenario where we go 2-0 down. I’m not sure if that’s happened before since I’ve been coaching the team and I’m just very proud of the team, how they show character and strength of coming back from such a scenario.”

With WSL leaders Chelsea dropping two points during their drawn clash against Brighton earlier in the day, it was imperative that Slegers’s side capitalised, if they still had any faint pretensions of a title challenge.

Yet, it was former Gunner Rehanne Skinner’s East Londoners that started the livelier, with Tysiak heading in Viviane Asseyi’s cross on seven minutes to make it 1-0 to the visitors.

Worse was to come five minutes later when Tysiak, a 25-year-old Belgium international, slotted home from close range to double their lead.

Stunned, Arsenal rallied, with Alessia Russo bursting through only for the England striker’s shot to fly narrowly wide.

On 35 minutes Mariona Caldentey drove forward to play a one-two with Russo on the edge of the box, before unleashing a drive that clipped the far post, as the Gunners attempted to gain a foothold in the game, after such a poor start.

As the clock ticked down towards half time, Euro 2022 winner Kelly struck with a resounding finish from Caldentey’s excellent cross to steer the ball side-footed past Hammers keeper Kinga Szemik, to make it 2-1 moments before the interval, as Meadow Park wildly cheered the Arsenal attacker’s first goal of her second spell with the club.

With Borehamwood expecting a grandstand second half, Martinez powered into the box before cutting inside Steph Catley far too easily, prior to calmly slotting past Daphne Van Domselaar, to make it 3-1 six minutes after the break, much to the delight of the travelling Hammers.

However, as temperatures plummeted after sunset, the tempo of this mesmerising match grew ever greater, and, undeterred, McCabe pulled a goal back on 56 minutes, as the home crowd willed on their heroes to stage a remarkable comeback.

With the home support baying for a leveller, it was the legendary Williamson who earned parity for the rampant Gunners, making it 3-3 a mere two minutes later, after heading home Kelly’s perceptive cross into the box.

As Meadow Park erupted, only 180 seconds further elapsed before referee Ade Soneye adjudged West Ham’s Kirsty Smith to have handballed in the box, and subsequently awarded a penalty to the dominant Gunners.

Up stepped the majestic Caldentey to make it 4-3, and put Arsenal ahead for the first time in the match, to unleash pandemonium in the stadium in an enthralling match for the ages.