Eva Olid earned her first Women’s Super League victory as Manchester United manager as her side survived a late scare to beat West Ham 2-1.
Olid replaced Marc Skinner in August after five years at Hearts, but took only one point from her first three league games.
United began Sunday’s match second from bottom and faced the prospect of becoming the club’s first women’s side to go four successive WSL matches without a win.
Elisabeth Terland eased those concerns in the ninth minute.
The Norway international headed in Anna Sandberg’s corner after West Ham failed to mark her, opening her account for the season.
West Ham, who had not beaten United since December 2019, had chances to respond almost immediately.
Kelly Gago headed wide while unmarked at a corner and then curled an effort narrowly past the near post.
There was little between the teams for much of the first half, and goalkeeper Constance Picaud-Inconnu kept the visitors in contention with an acrobatic save from Andrea Medina’s header just before the break.
Medina hit the crossbar within a minute of the restart. Her persistence paid off with 18 minutes remaining when she collected the ball after a blocked shot and curled it into the top corner.
Viviane Asseyi converted a penalty in the second minute of stoppage time after Sandberg fouled her.
West Ham pushed forward again, but United held on to extend their unbeaten league run against the Hammers to 13 matches.
The result lifted United to ninth and left West Ham 13th before the rest of Sunday’s fixtures.
It also extended United’s run to 31 WSL matches without defeat when scoring first.
Coming after a 10-1 League Cup win over Sheffield United earlier in the week, the victory gave Olid a welcome first league win in charge.
