Make no mistake, for the Albion, this game was a no doubt six-pointer. A win would keep them in the mix for a top half finish and take them just a point behind their opponents, a loss and the existing gap of four points would have opened to seven. It was wet, it was windy, it was grey and the quality of the football itself wasn’t particularly high, but the grit, determination and sheer will of the players to grind out a result was a joy to behold.

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

Brighton & Hove Albion

• There was just the one goal and it came early, after just 6 minutes, so starting there seems logical. Former Albion striker Nikita Parris gave the ball away in her own half under pressure from Rosa Kafaji, handing possession to Madison Haley outside the London City box. Haley drove forward momentarily and laid the ball off to Kiko Seike who was able to slot a finish low past the helpless goalkeeper.
• In the past both the wider media and Dario Vidosic himself has lamented the way his team often starts games slowly and grows into them, but sometimes too late to affect the result. He will be pleased with the way Brighton started this match then, scoring so early and then subsequently winning a penalty just ten minutes later.
• An errant pass at the back, this time from Wassa Sangare, was compounded when she bundled Haley over in the box mere seconds afterwards. There was little doubt about the call and after a brief discussion it was Haley herself who stepped up to take the spot kick. She struck it well and the ball was heading for the bottom left corner before Elene Lete stretched out her right hand and tipped it round the post.
• It wasn’t a ‘bad penalty’ and in fact it would have looked a pretty good one had the goalkeeper dived the other way, more so it was a saveable penalty, that the Spanish shot-stopper gambled correctly on.
• The Seagulls pushed for a second, but found it difficult to create chances whereas London City began to create chances, but lacked an end product. Chiamaka Nnadozie was imperious once again in goal pulling off a couple of fantastic saves, in particular a spectacular tip over the crossbar from some lax passing out from the back which almost handed Parris a goal against another of her former sides.
• It felt important to keep the scoreline on your side as the teams went in for the break and Albion held firm as the first half came to a close.
• The weather at this point had gone from bad to worse, not only was it lashing down with rain, but the wind had begun to swirl, the pitch became slippery and it just became tough conditions in which to play any sort of meaningful ‘style’ of football.
• Brighton’s best chance to add to their tally came from a Marisa Olislagers cross into the box which looped over everyone and was heading into the net before Lete stretched herself once more to fend it away. The Lionesses also came close with a curling left-footed shot from recent England call-up Freya Godfrey which went just wide.
• London City poured on the pressure late as the clock wound down, but ultimately they just couldn’t find that cutting edge and the Albion defence stood firm to record their third clean sheet of the season so far. Job done, three points heading home with the Seagulls.
• It felt like quite an even game which is at least partially proven by some rather wonky statistics. Brighton had just 35% possession and their passing accuracy was particularly underwhelming at just 64% to London City’s 79%, however the xG was actually in favour of the visitors by 1.6 to 0.6. Whilst boosted by the award of the penalty, this suggests that although they didn’t pass well or retain the ball for large periods of time, the Albion did at least create the better chances by a fairly wide margin and – more importantly perhaps – heavily restricted the Lionesses own opportunities.
• The defence did come under pressure and once or twice were almost the architects of their own downfall, but for the most part they had everything under control. Adding the experience and left-foot of Manuela Vanegas to the unit was invaluable, Moeka Minami was her usual front-foot decisive self and Caitlin Hayes is just that driving force, that sheer non-stop effort whistle to whistle player that she always is. For context, Brighton had four clean sheets in the league last season, this season they have three after just ten games.
• On what was clearly a challenging surface, the midfield did particularly well in marshalling the dangerous threats London City have behind their forward line. Kosovare Asllani was kept under wraps bar one or two fairly tame shots, and Grace Geyoro was essentially anonymous – especially when you consider that she’s the most expensive player in the world. In a game where your own influence is limited by the conditions, the best you can sometimes do is stop the opposition exerting their influence.
• Dario obviously felt, as many of us did, that the partnership of Seike and Haley was worth persisting with, and they combined once more to create the first goal. It should only improve with time and experience as a pair, but it is really encouraging to watch their movement and build-up play finally creating the clear cut chances that the Albion need to generate to begin climbing the table.
• Onwards and upwards to Chelsea next week at the Broadfield. Their long unbeaten run was halted by Everton this weekend so whether it is a good time to play them or not is debatable. On the strength of this performance though – Brighton should go into that game knowing that they can handle whatever the champions throw at them.

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London City Lionesses

• There was a lot of huff and puff, but ultimately they couldn’t blow Brighton down. Like the Albion, I don’t think the conditions helped them play their usual flowing style, but then it becomes about adapting, and London City are perhaps a step too early in their journey to do so effectively.
• Their most impressive player was Elena Linari who looked an absolute rock at the back, much as she did for Italy in the recent European Championships. It makes you wonder how Roma ever conceded any goals with her and Minami at the heart of their defence!
• For the time being they are comfortably a top 6 team with aspirations to climb higher, not unlike Brighton. With Michelle Kang’s backing though, nobody would be surprised with a couple of additions in January and a few more in the Summer, if they weren’t in the hunt for a Champions League place next season.

Other Business

• The welcome that we received on arrival was fantastic. We were immediately handed a paper programme free of charge along with a London City Lionesses santa hat. Some hardcore fans might ask why you would accept these items given your loyalty to the Albion – to them I would say should you not buy a magnet from Tenerife as a souvenir because of your allegiance to England (or your own country). Many of us also know women’s football fans who haven’t nailed their colours to the mast and would be grateful for some cool freebies. The hat wasn’t the end of it though, as we were soon offered some very nice LCL/Mastercard scarves and a voucher for a free hot chocolate. Everyone came away absolutely raving about the hospitality we’d been given, alongside of course the Lionesses’ own fans – and it really didn’t take much. Aston Villa under the stewardship of Maggie Murphy have also just announced a raft of matchday events, so the sense that women’s football games should be about the overall experience, not just the match, is catching on.
• Apparently the crowd of 3,302 constituted a record for London City – which, given the weather, was some achievement. They were giving out six free tickets on Black Friday to sit in the standing area next to the away stand though so that will have bolstered their numbers.
• If the club hierarchy thought that would quieten the Albion fans down though they were sadly mistaken. Around 140 seasiders showed up and showed out all game long, led by Gulls Aloud. Loud and proud is a bit of a cliche, but on Sunday, not a truer phrase would there be to describe our away fans.
• Last word goes to the referee Grace Lowe and her officiating team who for the most part allowed the game to flow and took into account the challenging conditions the players were facing.

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The SheGulls Podcast was recorded last night and will be released soon – so for more analysis of the LCL game – do give it a listen. We also preview the visit of Chelsea and try to work out whether their loss at the weekend has poked the bear or deflated the balloon. Fun times!

See you all soon as always!