All good things come to an end, at least that’s what they say, but did Brighton’s winning run have to conclude like this? A flat match, in a drab setting, with a dull goal and certainly some dismal refereeing. This was a Spurs team with a bit of spirit, some good players and a few flashes of talent, but they shouldn’t have troubled the Albion – and yet they did. It felt like last seasons’ losses to West Ham, Leicester, Liverpool and Aston Villa away – teams we made look good because of our own underwhelming performances on the road. Sadly Sunday felt all too familiar.

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

The SheGulls Summary

Brighton & Hove Albion

• It’s not that Brighton played poorly, they just didn’t have anyone put their head above the parapet and take the game by the scruff of the neck. It’s fair to ask, like last season, when Fran Kirby doesn’t play, if the attack really has the collective ability to take charge of games without her. Collectively we want to say we’re not dependant on her, but the results do speak for themselves.
• There were three clear shouts for a penalty, and we’ll talk about the officiating later, but let’s go through them individually and assess their merits. The first one, in just the 4th minute, is about as much as a penalty as has ever existed. Toko Koga slips in her own box, the ball rolls away and Jelena Cankovic nicks it beyond her where it strikes Koga’s arm. As the Brighton player continues to run onto the live ball, Koga dives at Cankovic’s legs completely wiping her out. It’s absolutely 100% a penalty and a yellow card – even if not for the ‘tackle’ it was a definite handball. The Albion hierarchy will rightfully be asking the PGMO why such an egregious foul went unpunished. The second is a clear push on Michelle Agyemang from a corner in the 43rd minute. It looks as though Eveliina Summanen is leaning on her as the ball comes in and then stumbles when Michelle jumps for a header, which forces them both to the floor. Technically it should be a foul and a penalty, but these push/pull tussles in the box so rarely get given, it’s unsurprising – albeit incredibly frustrating – that it went unpunished. The third for me isn’t a penalty, or at least it is inconclusive enough to be fair decision. A long through ball comes out to Kiko Seike on the right hand side of the box, she touches it away from the defender and goes down under the challenge. The contact is so minimal, having seen it several times from several angles it’s impossible to tell if there even was any. By far the most understandable decision of the three.
• The defence played well, especially given that Marit Auee and in particular Moeka Minami were late withdrawals. In terms of the goal, there are a few players who maybe wish they could have had a do-over in order to stop the build-up, the cross, or even cover Cathinka Tandberg a little better, but ultimately it was a well-worked move and no defence is ever going to be perfect 100% of the time.
• It actually felt like the Everton home game in reverse, whomever scored first, if at all, held the advantage and whilst the opposition huffed and puffed, they ultimately couldn’t conjure up a goal of their own. Now is no time to panic of course, but evidence suggests that Brighton don’t want to be one of ‘those’ teams, they want to aim higher than a scrap for 6th or 7th, but if that’s the case then this match has to be an anomaly not the rule.
• The Albion weren’t played off the pitch by any stretch of the imagination and with illness and injuries suffered in the run up to the game, some leeway has to be given, but with Arsenal up next it could be a while before they get back to winning ways in the WSL.

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Spurs

• They did enough to win, that’s about the nicest compliment Spurs could be paid. They created one clear cut chance and they scored it, and that was enough for all three points, so good on them.
• Jess Naz played very well – after a tough week off the field too. She was definitely more threatening in the first half though, perhaps a casualty of Spurs’ more defensive outlook in the second.
• It had to be Tandberg though didn’t it. A player this writer had linked to the Albion as the final piece of the attacking puzzle for much of the summer, goes to Tottenham and scores against us. Murphy’s Law? More like Tinka’s Revenge.

Other Business

• After praising Ryan Atkin and his team heavily for their performance against Aston Villa at the Broadfield, boy oh boy did the tables turn here. This was the archetypal WSL officiating performance down to a tee, different decisions depending on the time the offence happened, yellow cards and play-on calls for the exact same fouls, simple things like obvious corners being given as goal kicks, the list goes on. It might sound like sour grapes, but watch that first penalty shout and tell anyone in their right mind it wasn’t given – they’d choke themselves laughing. To give him credit he does try and referee the right way, treating players with respect and not getting too trigger happy with the cards, but in this game they are the only two positives in an otherwise very indifferent afternoon.
• The attendance of 1,427 really is pretty low for, in theory, a well supported club who play in relatively central London. The stadium is decent too, no great shakes, but nice staff, room to move round, good seating etc – so no excuses there. I can only think their lack of real starpower is what hurts them more than anything even though they have the likes of Naz and Beth England.

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Had the lurgy unfortunately so apologies if this review is a little bit more abbreviated than usual. As such The SheGulls Podcast will be recorded tonight (Tuesday) and will be released soon – so for more analysis of Spurs away and a preview of Arsenal at the Emirates – do give it a listen. Hope to see some of you on the coach up to North London…

See you all soon as always!