Bristol City stay at the bottom of the Barclays FA Women’s Super League table after West Ham condemned them to a second successive 4-0 home defeat.
Having been seen off by Aston Villa in midweek, the Robins had another tough day at the office. An own goal from Jemma Purfield as well as Emily van Egmond, Rachel Daly and Martha Thomas strikes propelled the Hammers to a comfortable win.
“We have been here before and we know we have work to do," said manager Tanya Oxtoby afterwards. "It is really important that we stick together and put in the hard yards to get out of the position we are in.
“It’s difficult because we are missing key players and have been for a number of games now. We knew it was going to be hard for a squad of our size to play three games in eight days.
“We looked tired today and we do not have the experience on the pitch that we would like."
Two West Ham corners in the 11th minute led to two goal-line clearances before an attempted clearance went in off Purfield.
The Robins thought they had equalised less than two minutes later, with Purfield making amends with a beautiful cross, but Gemma Evans’ effort was ruled out for offside.
City stayed solid for the next 45 minutes, but conceded again just after the hour mark when Thomas crossed to van Egmond who volleyed into Sophie Baggaley’s bottom corner.
Daly added a third with a bullet header, and Thomas wrapped it up late on.
