West Ham Women’s team manager Rehanne Skinner has praised her side for upping their performance levels as the Hammers aim to register back to back WSL victories when they travel to Brighton on Saturday.

Skinner’s side make the trip to the south coast full of confidence after picking up their first league  win of the season against Leicester last weekend. The win saw the Hammers move up to ninth in the WSL table.

Hammers boss Skinner has been happy with her sides performances in their last few matches. She has been particularly pleased with how her side have improved their link up play in the final third as well as how they have remained defensively resolute. Skinner is hopeful that the Hammers will be able to maintain the same performance levels when they travel to the Amex Stadium this weekend.

Brighton, who are currently third in the WSL standings, will certainly be a tough test for the Hammers. Skinner is well aware that her side will need to be on their A game if they are to pick up a positive result.

Here is some of what Skinner said when speaking to the media earlier this week:

We’ve pushed the levels up

RS: “We’ve played really well since the international break, adding the in-possession stuff to our game has been much, much better, and I think that has elevated everybody. Now we’ve got everybody settling into the team and understanding what we’re trying to do, it’s adding value to the wider group. The confidence on the ball we had against Leicester was really good and the players’ confidence from that was great, understandably. The win has given us a boost in terms of our capabilities on the ball. You want to try and go on a bit of a roll and keep the momentum going.”

Brighton pose a tough test

RS: “They’re moving the ball really well and they’re creating problems for people. The game will be difficult, but that’s not something that’s new to us. Every game’s difficult in this league. All we can do is control ourselves and do what we can with what we’re trying to achieve, and hope that creates problems for Brighton as well, given the form we’ve been in has been really positive.”

We’re looking forward to playing at the Amex in front of our travelling fans

RS: “The biggest thing is, we want to make sure we play in the best stadiums that we can. The players love it, they really enjoy going into those settings. Our West Ham fans have been superb, they’ve been all over the country with us already and we’ve had some long journeys. I’ve got no doubt we’ll have a good following this weekend. We bring a lot of noise anyway, so I think that will help us, but other than that, we’re there to focus on the football and make sure we do the best job we can to get the points.”