Make no mistake, Leicester needed to win this game. Kicking off 4 points behind their closest relegation rival and with some tough fixtures coming up, they would have earmarked this game as a potential victory. For the Albion though perhaps not a need to win, but a desperately want to, having only taken 4 points from their last seven games. In a battle of two teams without a recognised striker between them, it was Brighton whose quality elsewhere made the difference in the end.

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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 WSL YouTube channel: HERE
• The SheGulls Podcast reviewed the game on Monday night over on the SheGulls YouTube channel: HERE – where you can watch via the Live tab on catch-up any time after broadcast!

Brighton & Hove Albion

• As mentioned above, neither side started with a conventional or recognised striker in their team – not necessarily by design but more out of necessity. This contributed to the lack of cutting edge both teams showed throughout as the occasional wave of an attack would simply wash up on defensive shores. Where Brighton had the advantage though is that they do have forwards who have shown they can contribute to the goal tally. In this case, as it has often been this season, cometh the need, cometh Kiko Seike.
• Her goal came from a wonderful piece of passing interplay, which unfortunately has been all too rare this season. Fran Kirby drives forward into the Leicester half and plays an exquisite diagonal through-ball to Rosa Kafaji just inside the penalty area. Instead of doing the obvious and going for a shot which most likely would have been saved, Kafaji showed excellent composure to side foot the ball across to Seike – taking the goalkeeper out of the equation – who was waiting to clip the ball into an empty net. It couldn’t have been drawn up any better and the Albion took a deserved lead.
• Statistically speaking, Brighton should have turned their dominance into a more convincing scoreline. They had 62.5% possession, three times as many shots, with seven on target to their opponents’ zero. It can’t be any more obvious that what they lack is an out-and-out goalscorer. Dario Vidosic has said as much multiple times in multiple press conferences. The fact remains the Seagulls have only lost one game so far all season by more than one goal. With a striker, be it Michelle Agyemang or someone else, scoring 8-10 goals many of those draws could have been wins, and losses – well who knows…
• In addition to Seike, both Kirby and Kafaji performed well and it would seem there is some blossoming chemistry between the three of them. The difficulty this season, along with Jelena Cankovic, has been getting all of them on the field at the same time.
• The defence had very little to do, but equally their anticipation and positioning meant that what did come their way was dealt with quickly and efficiently for the most part. Caitlin Hayes looked imperious as always, but the addition of Moeka Minami back into the unit seemed to have a calming influence that speaks volumes bout her influence on the team.
• This victory lifts the Albion up to 6th, but with their final four fixtures coming against four of the top five teams in the league, it will be a tough ask to pick up many, if any, more points this season.

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Apologies for the brevity on this one, I missed the game due to a family trip, and have been playing catch-up ever since. Massive thank you to everyone who did travel for representing those that couldn’t so well as always!

The SheGulls Podcast – where we discuss the Leicester game in more detail and preview our upcoming game against Arsenal in the Women’s FA Cup – is now up on YouTube and available on demand by clicking on the ‘Live’ tab on the channel menu.

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

See you all soon!