In what was one of the most fascinating Barclays Women’s Super League games so far this season, West Ham United inflicted a 2-1 defeat on Aston Villa at The Poundland Bescot Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
As well as there being some incredible football on display, the biggest talking point of the game was the aftermath of a tussle which ended in three red cards being shown by the referee – one to West Ham United defender Hawa Cissoko, one to their manager Paul Konchesky and one to a member of Aston Villa’s backroom staff.
When asked about the incident after the match, Hammers boss Konchesky said “I’m not sure what happened. I did see Hawa raise her hands.
“She’s upset and she’s apologetic because she knows she’s a big part of us and we’re going to miss her. It’s gone on now, we’ll have to deal with it in the weeks to come.”
When commenting on his own dismissal, Konchesky said that he felt that the decision was harsh.
He said “Is it harsh? Probably, because I’m sticking up for my player who is getting stuff said to her. Whatever the consequences are, I’ll take them. We don’t want to see that, I get it, but I’ll stick up for my players so I have.”
Reflecting on the action on the pitch, Konchesky hailed the fight and resilience shown by his side over the 90 minutes.
“We knew it was going to be tough,” said The Hammers boss. “They’ve got some fantastic players and recruited well in the summer.
“My girls showed fight and resilience. I think they outworked them and if you outwork teams, results and success are going to come and we saw that.”
West Ham United are back in action again next Sunday when they take on Reading at The Chigwell Construction Stadium in Dagenham.