The bare minimum you need to do to progress up the table in the Women’s Super League is to beat the teams below you. After comfortably despatching West Ham 4-1 at the Broadfield (we won’t mention the Subway Cup) and an excellent performance despite the scoreline last week against London City, hopes were high of returning from Dagenham with three points. It’s the hope that get you I’m reliably informed.

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• For a full recap of the match action courtesy of Luke Nicoli on the Official BHAFC Website click: HERE
• Match highlights are available via the WSL 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

• For 80 minutes it was going rather well. The match itself was fairly even, but Brighton held a 2-goal lead in the closing stages. Time to manage the game and bring home the W surely?
• The first half was quite scrappy, not helped by the lumpy pitch it must be said, which made it difficult to get the ball under control and find a consistent passing game. Both sides had chances, perhaps West Ham the better of them, but neither could break the deadlock until the closing minutes.
• Thankfully it was the Albion who took the lead in spectacular circumstances in the 40th minute. Moeka Minami was finally able to get a driven pass over the top to her compatriot Kiko Seike. The Japanese international raced onto the ball and clipped a lovely first time finish from range over the head of goalkeeper Kinga Szemik and into the net. It was ‘route one’ football, but it worked, and the finish from Seike was incredible.
• The second half began in much the same way as the first, but once again it was Brighton who capitalised on the disjointed nature of the game. Manuela Vanegas stepped out of defence to steal the ball and lay it off to a teammate. Instead of arresting her momentum she continued forward and was played in by Madison Haley. Showing some real skill and determination she beat the West Ham defender, drove into the box and curled a crisp left-footed strike into the top right-hand corner.
• 2-0 was very nearly 3-0 when soon after coming on, new recruit Olaug Tvedten had a shot well saved by the legs of Szemik in the 78th minute, but the Seagulls looked out of sight at this stage and West Ham seemed resigned to their fate.
• There’s nothing like a goal from nowhere to give a team hope though and an errant cross from West Ham substitute Ffion Morgan was somehow palmed into her own net by Chiamaka Nnadozie. It felt like a turning point. Just four minutes later a hopeful long ball fell between the onrushing Nnadozie and Hammers striker Shekiera Martinez. The Albion keeper got there first but kicked it into Martinez who retained possession and calmly stroked the ball home to make it 2-2. The comeback was was well and truly on.
• There was only going to be one winner at this point and it wasn’t those wearing blue and white. Heads went down, West Ham sensed it and began attacking in waves. Just after the clock struck 90-minutes Martinez was somehow allowed free down the left to put a cross into the box. The initial effort from Riko Ueki was well saved by Nnadozie, but the ball fell to constant thorn in the Albion side, Viviane Asseyi, who finished the rebound from close range. In just a ten-minute period Brighton had thrown it all away.
• Was Nnadozie at fault for the Hammers first two goals? The first one definitely, the second one probably, but she also saved us a couple of times too, particularly in keeping out a fantastic free kick from Asseyi in the first-half.
• This defeat does not fall solely on her. If the game management had been better, if Brighton had more pace at the back (particularly on the flanks), if the midfield was more physical, if they hadn’t started to sit so deep – perhaps this scoreline could have been avoided – the opportunity stopped at source before the ball even got near enough to the keeper to become an issue. Of course it’s shoulda, woulda, coulda, but it’s a team game, and two weeks in a row now, the team has lost a game they had no business losing. Good teams win when not playing well. If you reverse that phrase…well you can work that out for yourselves I’m sure.
• I’m just going to caveat this by saying, as you know, SheGulls is ‘fan media’ and I write this less than 24-hours after having several hundred Hammers fans shouting and chanting in our faces as they came back from two goals down to win. I could write this column dispassionately, I am trained to do so, but since I am a fan this should be a safe space for open discussion and I encourage you all to feel the same way. It’s ok to be frustrated, angry even, but we should try to put that aside in the next few days and move on for the benefit of ourselves and the benefit of the team – they will need all the support we can muster against Arsenal.

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West Ham

• Truthfully, setting the scoreline aside, West Ham did enough to warrant at least a point from the game. That’s football though, they didn’t take their chances for the most part and Brighton did – for 80 minutes anyway.
• Whilst they showed the usual grit and determination of a traditional Hammers team, new Head Coach Rita Guarino, has them set up in a pragmatic style that accentuates their positives – such as the danger both Asseyi and Martinez possess up front. I do see them climbing the table slightly and expect them to avoid the relegation playoff. If not, there’s a few of their players I’d be very interested in if I were the Albion!
• I really like Viviane Asseyi. She’s very physical, but she treads that line between fair and foul which I often think is missing in the Seagulls setup. Yes she’ll give away the odd free kick, but she’ll also be first to a 50/50 or react quicker than everyone else to a loose ball. There’s nothing wrong with being an aggressive player as long as it is a net positive overall.

Other Business

• I can’t say the Chigwell Construction Stadium is the most welcoming of venues and I can appreciate why West Ham Women don’t draw more support there. The ground looked very sparsely populated – I can’t find an official attendance – but it would shock me if it was over 1500. Julie’s Cafe is always well-stocked though and those that do attend get behind the team when they are playing well.
• Big thank you as always to Spirit of Sussex coaches, the club, and Kissimmee for helping us get to and from Dagenham safely and securely.

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The SheGulls Podcast – where we will discuss the West Ham match in more detail and preview our upcoming game against Arsenal – will be live tonight (Monday) @ 9pm on YouTube – and available subsequently on demand by clicking on the ‘Live’ tab on the channel menu.

Audio of the entire episode will then be released on Wednesday at 1pm via Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

See you all soon!