The Blues head coach rotated her side for the visit of the Hammers, with seven changes made to the team that started our dramatic Champions League comeback against Man City on Thursday night.

We opened the scoring through Maika Hamano in the 16th minute and soon doubled our advantage when Aggie Beever-Jones struck from close range.

However, Shekiera Martinez pulled a goal back for West Ham shortly before half time and, despite controlling much of the second period, the visitors equalised in stoppage time when Martinez planted a header beyond Hannah Hampton.

'Obviously, it's frustrating,' reflected Bompastor after the draw. 'I think if you analyse the game – even thought I didn't watch the game back yet – I think we created a lot of opportunities. In the first half, especially in the first 30 minutes, we could have scored maybe three or four goals.

'I think if we were able to do that, especially in the first 30 minutes, the game was over. But again, I think I already said that in some previous games, when you are not able to be clinical enough, you just give some hope to the opposition, especially in the last 15 minutes of the first half.

'We dropped the intensity a little bit and conceded the goal because we were not switched on enough from a throw-in. And the second half was not good enough in terms of performance from our side.'

That may be so, but Bompastor highlighted that after facing Manchester City four times in 12 days – and having put a huge amount of emotional and physical energy into each fixture – player welfare was an important consideration against West Ham.

It's why she made seven changes and also brought captain Millie Bright and Erin Cuthbert off at half time.

'I don't have any regrets,' she said. 'My job is to make sure we just try to win every game, but in the back of my mind, also after this really intense block, I tried to protect some players because it's important also to think about their health.

'I think if you look at Millie [Bright], she played every single minute in every single game in this block. I think probably today was also a danger for her to stay on the pitch. She was just exhausted.

'This game was a quick turnaround [after Thursday]. I think sometimes people don't realise, but when you play the game we played on the Thursday with a quick turnaround and the emotions the players lived on the pitch, I think in terms of mental and physical aspects.

'They left a lot of energy on the pitch, and it's a quick turnaround. So today, I just felt it was the right thing to protect a little bit my players because we still have a lot of games to be played until the end of the season.'

Bompastor added: 'We have the quality in the squad and the depth in the squad to rotate the team and keep the same quality against West Ham and get a good result. I think we showed that in the first 30 minutes of the game.

'If we were able to score three or four goals, probably the game is over and it is a really different story. But yes, sometimes it doesn't happen, and you need to deal with that, stay consistent, and perform in a better way, especially in the second half.

'But reflecting on the bigger picture, even if we are frustrated with the result, we still are in a really good position: top of the table, six points ahead of Arsenal and [Manchester] United with four games left. This is the positive.'