West Ham United women’s team fell to a 2-0 defeat away at Manchester City in the Barclays Women’s Super League.  A resolute performance from the Irons was not enough to contain Gareth Taylor’s City, who found the net in either half courtesy of Lauren Hemp and Mary Fowler.

West Ham began like a team that was full of confidence, bossing possession and controlling the early tempo, and the visitors thought they had made the perfect start inside two minutes as Viviane Asseyi poked the ball into the net. But, the Hammers’ joy was short-lived as referee Elizabeth Simms disallowed the goal for an offside in the build-up.

City were soon in the ascendancy, and Rehanne Skinner’s side couldn't say they weren’t warned. After the hosts flashed their offensive threat when Leila Ouahabi’s cut-back from the byline for Fowler forced a smart save from Kinga Szemik, they got their reward after ten minutes. Fowler dug the ball out of her feet with three defenders around her and clipped it into Hemp, who was given the space and time to finish beyond Szemik.

City turned the screw even more, and the Irons were soon camped permanently in their own box. Hemp almost doubled City’s lead just after the half-hour mark. Yui Hasegawa embarked on a driving run towards the final third and found Hemp, who climbed high at the back post but couldn't keep her header down.

As the half went into the final stages, we managed a rare foray up the other end that saw the impressive Denton beat her marker for pace down the right and whip a delightful ball into the box, which had Riko Ueki stretching, but she couldn’t quite get there to prod it past Ayaka Yamashita.

City came out firing after the restart, as the hosts dominated the opening stages of the second half, and came close to doubling their lead through the influential Hemp, who spurned a hat-trick of opportunities.

Poland international goalkeeper Szemik was proving almost unbeatable, and she came to the Hammers’ rescue once again on 58 minutes. Hemp rose highest to meet a cross from the right just a few yards out, but was somehow denied as the Irons' No1 was alert and clawed it off the line.

Half-time substitute Seraina Piubel offered some respite for the visitors at the other end as her speculative effort was saved by Yamashita, but, in truth, it only seemed a matter of time before a second City goal came. And the inevitable happened, 19 minutes from time, through Fowler. ​