After a tumultuous week, Brighton headed north to Leigh Sports Village with hopes of repeating the performance they put in against Manchester United earlier in the season. Interim Head Coach, Mikey Harris, had just 60 minutes to train with his new charges on the grass before this game and at times Albion looked like a team that had unexpectedly lost their leader – resolute but disoriented.

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The match began in rather tentative fashion, both sides looking to feel each other out, probing for weaknesses. Unfortunately, it only took Manchester United 9 minutes to find one, and they didn’t stop exploiting it all game long.

Brazilian star Geyse was able to dribble away from Veatriki Sarri, beat Poppy Pattinson on the outside and slide a ball across the box where Nikita Parris was waiting to place a smart side-foot finish out of the reach of Sophie Baggaley. After talking previously about the Albion’s solid defensive record in the first 45-minutes, it didn’t appear to be a good omen for the remainder of the game.

The Red Devils continued to work between the lines, and they had the odd corner here and there, but neither side seemed to display any real dynamism going forward beyond the occasional bit of quality provided by Toone, Geyse or Zelem. In fact it was actually Brighton who had the next big chance.

Some loose passing at the back led the ball to fall kindly to Lee Guem-min who lifted a pass over the top of the defence. Elisabeth Terland rolled her marker to get through on goal and with the angle getting more acute by the second, she rifled in a right-footed volley, but Mary Earps was on hand to make a relatively comfortable save.

The Albion weren’t done there though. Again, somewhat against the run of play, Julia Zigiotti Olme played Poppy Pattinson in wide on the left wing. She was able to swing a cross in to the near post where Terland nipped in front of her defender, but could only deflect the ball straight at Earps.

Beyond those two opportunities it was almost all United, though they lacked a real cutting edge. Half-time and the score just 1-0, plenty of exciting football left to play surely!

Well… such was the dearth in quality during the second-half that Sky Sports ‘highlights’ of the game contained only two clips, one of which was a Malard header straight at Baggers that barely warranted another look, and the other was Manchester United’s second goal.

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Again Geyse beat Sarri and Pattinson on the left and played the ball across the box in a carbon copy of the first goal. Parris cleverly made herself some room and swept it into the net, this time in the far corner (64). Two assists for Geyse, two goals for Parris – far too easy.

To say the game petered out from there would be an understatement. The United players looked bored, often playing at walking pace or just standing next to the ball unopposed before picking out a pass. The Brighton players just looked shell shocked and in these circumstances who could blame them.

So 2-0 to the Red Devils, deserved overall, they just needed a couple of world-class moments from a couple of world-class players and that was more than enough. The Albion will come away disappointed, but hopefully not disheartened as this was always going to be a big ask even before they lost their head coach three days before the match.

Notes

• I thought Lee had a particularly good game. She worked hard, kept the ball well, and provided at least some drive forwards. I do think she can provide the link between the midfield and attack we so desperately need, but will she be given the minutes to prove it?
• Geyse got in time and time again down the right hand side and Manchester United were obviously targeting that area. Sarri isn’t much more than a nuisance in defence and Pattinson worked hard but was ultimately outmatched. I think a lot of fans thought we needed strengthening at full-back in the window, but alas it didn’t happen.
• Truthfully I didn’t think United played that well and I can see why they’re the closest of the ‘top four’ to being caught by Spurs or Liverpool. They still had more than enough to beat the Albion though.
• Vicky Losada picked up a knock around the 35th minute, but she wasn’t substituted until the 74th minute (for Maisie Symonds) – so seemingly nothing too serious.
• I always try not to mention the referee, in this case Megan Wilson, but even the commentator said that she’d blown the whistle ‘499 times’. In a scrappy game it didn’t help that every time someone fell to the ground a foul was given.