West Ham 0-1 Everton: Hammers bottom after Karen Holmgaard heads winner

Karen Holmgaard's second-half header sent West Ham United to the foot of the Women's Super League as Everton won a scrappy contest at the Chigwell Construction Stadium.

Substitute Holmgaard pounced at the far post to nod in twin sister Sara's delivery and handed the Hammers a club-record fifth consecutive top-flight defeat.

Goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan had saved the injury-hit Toffees by touching Riko Ueki's strike on to the post two minutes before Holmgaard's winner.

Everton's third WSL win lifted them to seventh.

In a game characterised by unconvincing finishing, Toni Duggan curled an early strike wide of the far post for the visitors after breaking clear inside the penalty area.

Everton top scorer Megan Finnigan also glanced a header beyond a post from Hanna Bennison's cross during the first half, while Nicoline Sorensen and West Ham's Viviane Asseyi dragged shots wide as the sides traded presentable chances.

Bristol City's draw at Liverpool means the Hammers are a point adrift at the bottom, having tasted victory once and lost seven of their nine games this season.

Everton's four-match unbeaten away run in the WSL is their best run on their travels for more than 11 years.

West Ham's next match is at Leicester City next Sunday, while Everton host Merseyside rivals Liverpool in the group stage of the League Cup on Wednesday.

West Ham are facing a potentially gloomy Christmas as not even a positive result at Leicester next Sunday will guarantee they do not stay bottom.

The Hammers hit the woodwork twice in their 3-0 defeat at Arsenal last week, and only Brosnan's fingertips and the frame of her goal denied them the lead here.

But that unwanted club record cannot be put down purely to misfortune and near-misses for the only team in the WSL not to have hit double figures in total goals, netting only seven in total.

They have conceded 15 times across those five defeats and their failure to score in five of their nine WSL games this season is the worst record in that respect of any team in the division.

"It's really difficult to take," manager Rehanne Skinner told the club's official website. "We dominated the game. We got caught out overplaying a little bit at the back, conceded a corner and that's led to a goal at the back post.

"The players are confident, it's just that it's not working out at this moment in time. We're going to keep working incredibly hard for the club and the fans. The results aren't good enough, we know that."

The hope for West Ham is that a victory next week - combined with other results going in their favour - could lift them above 10th-placed Aston Villa, with only five points separating the bottom five clubs in the table.

Everton manager Brian Sorensen said he only had one recognised defender available for this match and joked beforehand he was considering fielding the players available to him in a 1-6-3 formation.

So it was unsurprising to hear him say he was "really pleased" afterwards.

"With all the stuff thrown against us and seven [players] out... I am super happy," he told Everton TV. "Everybody chipped in and we did our job and got a good victory."