If there ever was a mid-table six-pointer, this game was it. A win would push Brighton back into 5th place after a Liverpool victory over Manchester Utd briefly dropped us to 6th. A loss would have left us 7th and on an equally poor run of results as those that were positive prior to the winter break. In so many ways then a pivotal moment in the Albion’s season – and we smashed it.

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For a full recap of the match action courtesy of Bruce Talbot please do head over to the Albion website HERE. Match highlights are available via the official WSL YouTube channel HERE.

The SheGulls Summary

Brighton & Hove Albion

• You might have scrolled down here thinking how could a team have ‘smashed it’ when the final score was 0-1. Well let me explain via this amusing piece of imagery – so bereft of attacking intent were Spurs that several pigeons congregated in Melina Loeck’s six-yard box and started grazing. That’s right, birds felt comfortable enough to land on an active playing surface and peck about for food.
• There is an element of humour there of course, but the fact remains, Tottenham didn’t have a single shot on target. They only had three total shots in the entire game. Brighton meanwhile had fifteen shots with five on target and a couple of those either tested the keeper or perhaps deserved a better finish to the opportunity that was created.
• By almost any metric the Albion dominated. More possession, more passes, better pass accuracy, more touches in the opposition box, more duels won, better xG – the list goes on. In fact the ONLY criticism I have at all is that we didn’t turn our dominance into a more emphatic win, because the whole time it was 0-1, you just never know.
• Once again, after an excellent performance against Chelsea, it is hard to single out individuals for praise when the whole team put themselves on the line for the three points. I will mention a few though, just from my own perspective:
• The entire defensive unit was excellent and even when Spurs put their ‘speedsters’ on towards the end of the game – the like of Jess Naz and Hayley Raso couldn’t make any real inroads.
• Rachel McLauchlan (Rackie Mackie) has now assisted a goal in three straight WSL games – and she is now rightly receiving a small amount of the very actual recognition she deserves from the wider game.
• Madison Haley was incredible once again – she has a rare combination of attributes that to use a colloquialism from her Dad’s sport (American Football) makes her an ‘every-down back’ – someone who can contribute in so many different ways.
• To me Marisa Olislagers is another player who I couldn’t leave out of our starting lineup at the moment. She now seems to be the preferred left-sided marauding wing-back/midfielder over Poppy Pattinson (who has played well on the left of a back three) and it’s hard to argue with the results so far. I think we could be witnessing another breakout star from this team.
• It’s no coincidence that with Fran Kirby leading the line we’re getting back to our best and creating more going forward. That isn’t a knock on Nikita Parris or any of our other forwards, just that with Fran on the field all our players are better off for her ability and the level of quality she demands.
• In all this haze of positivity we should talk about the goal of course. A loose ball on the edge of the box bounces into the air and Olislagers attempts a volleyed cross which ricochets off a Tottenham players’ face and over to McLauchlan at the far post. Rackie cuts a smart pass back to the onrushing Kirby who clips a cool finish into the bottom left-hand corner of the net.
• There was an element of controversy though – well to Spurs fans anyway. The player that was struck in the face of course fell immediately to the ground and though the ball was in the net a mere five seconds later Tottenham appealed that the game should have been stopped due to a head injury. I think after the game – even amongst the court of public opinion – most people believe the right decision was made.
• So back up to 5th place and with Leicester next there is a chance to solidify our position before two tough home games against Manchester City and Liverpool. The way we’re playing at the moment though – bring them on!

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Spurs

• I’m not sure whether it was a different Spurs team or a different Brighton team, but this was a far cry from the game of two halves that took place in December at the Broadfield. Perhaps they were missing Beth England, but in theory they have more than enough talent in their squad to cause us some problems, they just … didn’t.
• Anecdotally I’ve heard rumblings about the manager, his tactics and team selection. I would never fuel a call for a manager’s job, particularly of another team, but perhaps there is a little smoke – and we know where that can lead as much as any team.

Other Business

• The referee had a pretty good game I thought, a touch inconsistent towards the end when things got scrappier, but nothing egregious. In particular his handling of the goal was both calm and correct. I might suggest some other refs would have been more reactionary and upon seeing a player fall over immediately blow the whistle. Congrats to the officiating team.
• We were generously assisted with club-supported travel for this game and the coach was sold out – meaning between the fans and the sponsor Kissimmee the club shouldn’t have incurred a financial cost. In this way we hope that more coach travel will be made available to us in the future.
• The service provided by Seagull travel was excellent as always and a special thank you to driver Charlie for getting us there and back in good time and even better spirits.
• The atmosphere at the game was great from an Albion perspective, as always we were loud and proud – but we are starting to add numerous to that list of adjectives. At a guess we had 125-150 fans in attendance and our allocated block was essentially sold out. It was an awesome feeling to get the win and go down pitchside to celebrate with the players, we all felt it.

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For more in-depth analysis of this game please do check out the SheGulls Podcast, recorded Monday night, released Tuesday/Wednesday – where we’ll also have a preview of the upcoming fixture away at Leicester.