News from today’s Brighton & Hove Albion Women’s Team press conference with Mikey Harris and Guro Bergsvand.

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Mikey Harris

• Team News: Vicky Losada is suspended, Pauline Bremer and Maria Thorisdottir are available, as is long-term casualty Dejana Stefanovic which is absolutely fantastic to hear.

• Mikey talked about competing at the Amex, calling it our ‘home stadium’ and praising the ‘fantastic playing surface’. The team trained there this week in preparation for the game. He feels that it is a ‘competitive advantage’ because the players and staff are familiar with the surroundings.

• On the supporters’ side Mikey agreed that it is not just important for the football club, but also for the women’s game and that teams should be playing in ‘big stadiums in front of big crowds’.

• Whilst the quality of the pitch does help with our playing style he also cautioned that it will help Everton too, but that should make it an ‘exciting game’.

• The team have their own internal targets to reach in the next four games and everyone will be working hard to achieve them.

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Guro Bergsvand

• Guro admitted she has played at the Amex before for Norway, but she doesn’t like thinking about the past. (Editor’s Note: Guro was a second-half substitute when England beat Norway there 8-0)

• In terms of playing at the Amex on this occasion she said ‘the field and the stadium is amazing’ and everyone is excited to play there.

• Atmosphere is very different to Crawley, it’s bigger, the pitch is better quality and ‘you feel like you get to experience the same thing as the men and I think that’s really important and really good for the game.’

• It will be a ‘boost’ to the team, and ‘if we could choose, we would play every game at the Amex.’

• The dream would be to fill the Amex for a women’s game – ‘anything is possible’ – we just need to grow the fanbase and maybe even as soon as next season it could happen.

• Talking about compatriot Elisabeth Terland – she has scored a lot of goals and she’s still young, wouldn’t want to lose her, but ultimately she’ll make the right decision whether that’s to stay at the Albion or not.

That concludes the press conference recap. Thank you to Brighton & Hove Albion and the team behind the scenes for letting us be a part of these events moving forward.