This was always going to be a battle of togetherness against individuality – such are the mercurial talents Michelle Kang has attracted to the Lionesses since she took over. Away from home that teamwork and grit won out and the Albion came home with three points, but they couldn’t repeat that feat yesterday despite restricting London City to just one single solitary shot on target. That’s football for you eh…

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• For a full recap of the match action courtesy of Bruce Talbot on the Official BHAFC Website click: HERE
• Match highlights are available via the Official Brighton Women YouTube channel: HERE
• The SheGulls Podcast will be reviewing the game live at 9pm on Monday via the SheGulls YouTube channel: HERE – which you can also watch on catch-up any time after broadcast!

Brighton & Hove Albion

• Albion came out the blocks very quickly with a high press for the first few minutes, likely in an effort to combat the slow start they often exhibit and also to capitalise on any mistakes London City made as they adjusted to the conditions. It nearly paid dividends too, but for Rosa Kafaji scuffing her shot wide and then failing to connect with a ball across the box from Kiko Seike.
• Though the press couldn’t be sustained quite as aggressively, Brighton continued to attack, and it was pleasing to see the quality of movement that led to Seike’s opening goal in the 23rd minute. A one-two between Charlie Rule and Jelena Cankovic set the former away down the right-hand side and she picked Madison Haley out with a driven pass into the box. With a smart flick Haley simultaneously sent the defenders the wrong way and played in Seike who clipped a lovely finish past the goalkeeper with the outside of her right foot. 1-0 up with all the momentum – surely there was more to come?
• Unfortunately there was, and the Seagulls did technically score another, just a shame it was in their own net. After a breakdown in another Albion attack the Lionesses switched play to the right and Jana Fernandez was able to carry the ball almost to the halfway line entirely unchallenged. She played Freya Godfrey in down the wing with time to cross into the danger zone – that ‘corridor of uncertainty’ – where defenders have to clear or cut out the ball facing their own goal. In this case Moeka Minami was that defender, but she got far too clean a contact and ended up thumping home an own goal. Any striker would have been proud of the finish. It was so against the run of play it was unbelievable, in fact London City still hadn’t had a shot on target in the entire game, but let world-class talent have an opportunity, however small, and you can’t be surprised when they take it.
• Wave after wave after wave of Albion attacks washed up on the London City defence and it wasn’t long before they went close again, Haley hitting the outside of the post from short range. They hit the post again soon after, but on this occasion it didn’t work out for the Seagulls as they’d have hoped.
• A lovely cutback by Seike set up Nadine Noordam for a strike just inside the box which she directed across goal only to see it hit the woodwork and bounce out to an LCL player. That wasn’t the end of it though sadly. The clearance from Lucia Corrales found Isobel Goodwin and she held the ball up well enough to feed to Kosovare Asllani. The Swedish legend slid a pass out to Godfrey again on the right-hand side who brought the ball towards the box and onto her left foot, where she clipped a fantastic curled finish into the top left-hand corner of the net. For all Brighton’s dominance, for all their chances, the Lionesses now lead 2-1 as the half came to a close.
• The second half was more of the same from the Albion, though their opponents could afford to be even more defensive than they had been previously. Seike shot wide from point blank range, Kafaji curled an effort high and wide and Brighton were denied a potential red card and a penalty in quick succession. Looking at those decisions in isolation after the fact though, the referee did appear to make the correct call on both occasions.
• The Seagulls fought to the end and it felt as though their persistence would eventually pay off, but alas the final whistle arrived too soon for any form of redemption. In one of the best performances by the Albion at home this season, they somehow snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
• Stats can lie, no doubt about it, but in this case – they don’t. Brighton had 60.5% possession, 17 shots to LCL’s 4 (though most were admittedly off target), 41 touches in the opponent’s box to the Lionesses 6 and had far more passes completed with a much higher accuracy. As far as the numbers go, the Albion were robbed.
• Nobody had a bad game to be honest, a few were just unlucky. Minami of course I’m sure was devastated to score the own goal, but she was impeccable otherwise and has been one of our best players this season. I would give Jelena Cankovic a shout out too as her energy and playmaking in midfield makes a massive difference to our attacking output. Seike, fresh off her new contract had an excellent game too, though she’ll be wondering how she didn’t score a second from inside the six-yard box when it looked harder to miss.
• The fact of the matter is though, as alluded to in the introduction above, sometimes a touch of brilliance or a momentary lapse can undo all the hard work and effort you as a team have put in. Brighton played well and deserved their goal, London City just got a fortunate ricochet and can afford players like Freya Godfrey who can create something out of nothing. Ultimately though that’s not on the away team, that’s on Brighton, because quality teams don’t play well and lose consistently.

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London City Lionesses

• London City are still a team in transition. They really were poor on the day and had to rely on a defensive error and an excellent curling finish from one of their star players to come away with anything – never mind three points. You get what you pay for I’m sure they would say.
• A year or two with less player turnover and a consistent spine of a team though and you can absolutely see why the Michelle Kang-owned outfit could become a serious threat to the established top four.
• Goodwin had a quiet game by her standards, but testament to the Albion back three who had her on lockdown throughout – not an easy task.
• Still yet to see what how or why they spent a world record fee on Grace Geyoro. Of course she needs time to adapt but on both occasions the Albion have faced her this season she’s been almost invisible. LCL will want much more from her in the weeks, months and years to come in order to justify that exorbitant outlay.

Post-Match Press Conference – Chris Roberts

• Felt that on another day they could have easily scored four or five goals.
• Manner of the goals they conceded was disappointing, they need to be better in those moments as both were massively preventable.
• Team played well, got into the right areas and had good numbers in and around the box. A performance to build from.
• Thought Tvedten deserved her debut and played well, obviously in limited minutes. Very much an option at set pieces too.
• Tribute to Rado was exceptionally well done, allowed everyone to join together to celebrate his life and remember his legacy.

Other Business

• As Chris Roberts spoke about above, and depicted in the headline photograph, there was a minutes applause observed in remembrance of Rado Vidosic prior to the game. To see everyone stood clapping loudly and proudly in his honour was a truly special experience and one everyone felt a part of. Go well Rado, forever in our thoughts.
• Referee Megan Wilson and her crew had a passable game. There were two key decisions, one of which was subjective, the other the correct call, but she wasn’t ideally placed to see either of them. Haley and Maisie Symonds were also being pushed, pulled and shoved to kingdom come with no consequences whatsoever. It’s good to let the game flow, but at some point the team committing even minor fouls needs to be punished for doing so.
• It’s always a little disappointing when attendance at the Broadfield dips below the 2,000 mark, and it did so with 1,990 on Sunday. To be truthful though, if London City had brought more than 10 fans then it might have hit that milestone. Unfortunately that would perhaps have papered over the fact that somehow, someway, the Albion need to increase their regular attendance at home.

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Part 1 of the SheGulls Podcast – where we pay tribute to Rado Vidosic and discuss the LCL game in more detail – is available now on YouTube.

Part 2 of the SheGulls Podcast – where we discuss an exciting but puzzling new signing and preview our upcoming fixture against West Ham – will be released alongside Part 1 in audio format later in the week.

Also be sure to tune into to the SheGulls YouTube channel on Tuesday 3rd February @ 10pm for our live Transfer Deadline Day special!

See you in Dagenham…