I’d love to start one of these recaps with positivity, discuss the improvement in style and talk about the momentum the Albion are building. Sadly today will not be that day, and this will not be that article. Truthfully, the game at Broadfield on Sunday against Liverpool was the living embodiment of a phrase often uttered from parent to child, “I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed.”

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Both sides started the game quickly, Liverpool with a chance and couple of corners early on, Brighton responding in kind with a dangerous cross that bounded across the box , but failed to find a touch goalwards.

I made a note in the 7th minute that this was going to be a frustrating game. Because of Liverpool? Because of the Albion? No, because I had already grown tired of hearing referee Amy Fearn’s whistle just 500 or so seconds into the entire match. Honestly, if you start the game blowing up every time someone gets a miniscule nudge, then you have to continue to do so all game long – what a mouthwatering prospect, not. A few minutes later both Fearn and her nearside ‘assistant’, who didn’t signal for a single foul all game, both missed an absolutely blatant shove on Vicky Losada which by almost any measure was a free kick and almost certainly a yellow card.

The first half proceeded as expected, play being broken up by incessant unnecessary fouls, and neither side able to create any clear-cut chances, despite threatening once or twice to do so. Immediately before the half though, both teams went close. In the 45th minute, Liverpool whipped in a corner which found the head of Sophie Roman Haug who nodded the ball across goal and just past the post. The marking was nowhere near good enough and Haug, who is usually strong in the air, will have been very disappointed not to put the visitors 1-0 up. Less than a minute later, Brighton nearly seized the advantage themselves. A swift passing move led to a Veatriki Sarri shot that was blocked inside the box. The ball ran wide to Poppy Pattinson who clipped a left-footed shot onto the bar and away from danger.

So 0-0 heading into the changing rooms, Brighton had held their own in the first half once again and despite neither team playing anywhere close to their best, I felt that any result was still possible. Interesting we also had a change of referee as Amy Fearn had suffered an injury and Emily Heaslip, the 4th official, would come on to replace her.

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Liverpool came out with more intensity after the break, perhaps aware of the Albion’s tendency to be a waining side in the second half, particularly if they are forced to chase the game. Still nothing seemed forthcoming from either side though until a calamity of circumstances led to the away side going in front.

First I’ll describe what happened and then we can discuss some of the factors involved. In the 52nd minute a Liverpool player went down after she was struck in the face with a ball (she was fine), which then deflected to a Brighton player. Heaslip stopped play shortly afterwards to have the injury checked – fair enough. She then carried out a drop ball for Maria Thorisdottir who passed back towards Sophie Baggaley. Under pressure from an extremely high Liverpool press, Baggaley attempted a pass forward which was intercepted by Ceri Holland on the edge of the box, and she drove a shot low to the left and into the back of the net.

The referee did the right thing by stopping the game, noting Brighton had possession and awarding a drop ball, which should be uncontested. However, this is where things start to go wrong. First of all the ‘drop’ ball was not ‘dropped’ it was rolled backwards. Liverpool decided, instead of letting us go back to the keeper and start again, as most teams would, that they would press aggressively. Because of the rolling ball, the advancing opposition and the positioning of the referee – Thorisdottir had no option BUT to go back to Baggaley – who already had an attacker closing her down. The keeper barely had time to look up before she got rid of it and Holland took advantage from there.

Was there anything illegal about what happened – no, but the way it unfolded, the way the referee handled the situation, the way Liverpool instantly pressed when the game had been stopped for THEIR player to get treatment – left a really sour taste in the mouth.

Of course Brighton dominated from there – it stands to reason. We needed to score, they needed to stop us, so naturally the Albion began to make inroads as Liverpool defended deeper and deeper. The difficulty is, and many sides suffer the same issue, we only seem to galvanise ourselves once we’re losing, once it’s too late, as opposed to coming out like that from the first minute of the game. Had we played the entire match like we played in the final half an hour, I think we’d have scored, maybe even a couple – but our final ball and finishing is so profligate, once we go a goal down, I have little faith we can pull things round. Brighton have just 13 total goals in 14 WSL games, they have come from behind to draw just once (vs Leicester), and you’d probably guessed correctly that they haven’t come from behind to win at all this season.

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Pauline Bremer and Madison Haley came on late and they did seem to lift the energy somewhat alongside Lee Guem-min who made a nuisance of herself whenever possible. Unfortunately it was all for nought though and the Albion suffered yet another defeat they may live to rue later on.

The next game against Bristol City is now a MUST win – I mean they all are at this point. Brighton now sit 11th on 11pts with only West Ham, also on 11pts, and Bristol City on 6pts, in the immediate vicinity after wins for Leicester, Everton and Aston Villa on the weekend. IF the Albion can beat Bristol City away in two weeks time, that would put us on 14pts, keep them on 6pts and that should save our WSL status. Lose, the gap goes to just 2pts though, and there’s a decent chance Albion could end up Championship bound.

Notes

• Poppy Pattinson went down in another incident that went unpunished by Fearne. I don’t think there was any malice in it per se, but if you arrive late to an aerial duel and headbutt your opponent you should at least be receiving a yellow card no? Pattinson carried on after treatment, but she certainly looked shaken up.
• I’ve spent enough time on the officials so why waste any more. MUST DO BETTER. Oh and assistant referees – please do assist.
• Technically could you say the goal was Baggers’ fault? I suppose yes, she has to take some blame, but there are mitigating factors such as the strange set of circumstances combined with the way the team are being asked to play out from the back. Ultimately she’s saved our asses so many times this year I’ve lost count – so the least we can do is have her back.
• Once again I could see echoes of Roberto De Zerbi in Brighton’s play, but it just isn’t bearing fruit. Is it just taking time to bed in? Is it because we don’t have the personnel to execute it? I think it’s a bit of both. It’s really difficult to say right now whether the women’s team needs to be a truly unique organism with its own style and tactics, or whether elements of the men’s ethos can be copied and pasted successfully.
• We did complete more passes, at a higher accuracy percentage, and had more possession than Liverpool. Assuming that is part of the wider aim, then it’s big green tick on those fronts.
• Where a lot of Brighton’s play breaks down is in the second or third pass of a move, which I mostly put down to poor or panicked decision making. Too often a simple ball or an unmarked player is missed because – I assume – the player in possession either doesn’t see them, or doesn’t have the confidence to find them. Twice today Elisabeth Terland had golden opportunities to put Katie Robinson through on goal, twice she chose not to, and twice we failed to score – the second didn’t even end with an attempt on goal. Other times Losada, or Julia Zigiotti Olme found opposition players when it seemed easier to find a teammate, and Sarri or Robinson had to turn and play backwards because nothing was on. Can we handle this new style when some of the basics still need to be improved?
• I thought the crowd were pretty good today, actual chanting is being actively addressed (more to come on this soon I hope), but everyone was engaged and there was plenty of banter, oohs and aahs. That was until we started losing again of course, which really sucked the life out of the stadium. It really is true in my opinion, the atmosphere starts on the pitch – give us something to cheer about and then watch how loud we can be!

The new SheGulls Podcast will record tonight and be available on Tuesday all being well. Please spread the word, give it a listen, and above all – be nice to us!