West Ham Ladies gathering momentum in FA Women's Premier League South

West Ham Ladies have had a mixed start to their Premier League Southern Division campaign but striker Becky Merritt hopes their season can now kick on as they push for promotion.

The Ladies lost their opening game of the season away at Millwall Lionesses but bounced back against Brighton last weekend with a 2-0 win with one of the goals coming from the 26-year-old.

Now the Ladies are gearing up to start League cup campaign with a group game at home against Tottenham on Monday, kicking off at 7:45pm.

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“We had a couple of players out for the Millwall game and they are the type of team who away from home will always give you a battle and we didn’t really turn up,” she said.

“We played ok but compared to our usual standard, it wasn’t good enough. We conceded a sloppy goal and it was just one of those days where no matter what we threw at them, we just couldn’t score.

“No-one likes to lose especially to Millwall so we got back into training and worked hard and discussed what we had to do to put it right.”

She continued: “I was quite nervous approaching the Brighton game because they have been a bit of a bogey side for us recently but right from the off we went at them.

“The manager outlined what she wanted from us early doors and we went for it full throttle. We pressed them all over the pitch and we looked comfortable knowing we had the upper hand and it was a good win for us.

“I have been playing centre midfield over the last two games so it felt really good to score and get my first goal of our league campaign.

“Looking ahead to Monday night and our league cup game against Spurs, we are going for the win but they are a decent side and it will be an interesting game.”

She added: “Carly Roache, one of our fantastic centre midfielders, is back in training which is great news for us.

“She was out for most of pre-season through injury but doesn’t look out of shape or off the mark which is very positive.

“Emma Thomas is also back from holiday and it’s all starting to come together nicely.

“We are also still getting a lot of calls from potential new players which is exciting and it’s good people are noticing what we are about and what we want to achieve.”