A first ever FA Cup Final for Brighton & Hove Albion Women, and only the second in the entire club’s history – what a moment it was to be a fan of the Seagulls yesterday. The result didn’t go our way, but that doesn’t take away our pride in the team and the journey they have been on this season.

• For a full recap of the action on the Official BHAFC Website click: HERE
• Highlights are available via the Channel 4 Sport YouTube channel: HERE
• The SheGulls Podcast will be discussing the game tonight (Monday) over on the SheGulls YouTube channel: HERE – where you can watch via the Live tab or on catch-up any time after broadcast!

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The Match

There would be limited value in dissecting a one-off game such as this. So rather than examine every element, let’s look at the match as a whole.

Brighton started really well and had the better of the opening 25-30 minutes, but just couldn’t find the goal to give them a deserved advantage. As the half wore on Manchester City grew into the game and the inevitable Bunny Shaw gave them the lead with a towering header. Going into the half at 1-0 down would have been frustrating, but Alex Greenwood’s curling free kick in injury time to make it 2-0 was like a dagger in the side of the Seagulls.

They tried to stop the bleeding in the second half, but in desperate search of a response, City were able to soak up the pressure and respond by picking apart the Albion defence. Two more goals followed and ultimately the scoreline ended 4-0, which wasn’t a true reflection of the game, but perhaps was a true reflection of how clinical an elite level team can be.

The Day

We set off pretty early, about 8am, to get up to Wembley before London started to get busy. We arrived around 9.50am into the Green Car Park (for the first time) and wandered off to grab a coffee before the shops at Wembley Park opened. After perusing the outlets we met up with Claire and Aby and went for lunch at Las Iguanas where we were joined by Ben to make it a SheGulls full house.

Now the crew were all together, fed and watered, we made our way round to the Fanzone to be interviewed by TNT. Unfortunately they only had two microphones so Aby and I were nominated to speak on SheGulls’ behalf. Whether any of it saw the light of day I somewhat doubt, because I think it was predicated on us winning, but still, a useful experience all the same.

We made it into the stadium with about 40 minutes to spare before kickoff and in many ways I was glad of that because it meant I could take in the blue and white wall of supporters in all their glory.

Returning home was a different challenge, not least because the traffic was horrendous, but more so because we came away empty handed. Unequivocally though – I’d do it all again in a heartbeat. An incredible day, shared with friends and family, cheering on our team. The result, disappointing, the fans, incredible, the experience, transcendent.

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The Fans

Honestly, and I may be biased, but our fans – hoo boy – we’ve got the best. Incredibly passionate, loud, respectful, every age, every gender. As a founder of a supporters’ group I could not be prouder of how we all represented our club. Truthfully, I think our incredible women got as big of a cheer from us for giving it their all than City did for winning the damn thing.

We had people making bracelets, people painting faces, big flags from every country represented in our squad, small waveable flags provided by the club, banners, scarves, messages of remembrance for Rado Vidosic – you name it – you did it.

There were a lot of men’s fans there no doubt and I want to thank them for supporting our women’s team and for doing it the right way. Songs for Brighton as a club and keeping it ALL positive – no negative chants beyond a couple targeted at the referee, which we all joined in with anyway.

I thought I might have a few tears yesterday, but in the circumstances they weren’t really warranted. The closest I’ve come is just recalling how awesome you all were when writing this section. Something in my eye most probably.

The Legacy

Just reaching an FA Cup Final is a massive achievement and the team should feel that positivity as they navigate the offseason. They’ve been there once, they can get back there again. We may see a few players move on and a few new ones come in, but you have to believe they will only improve our chances of victory the next time round.

For the fanbase I hope it translates into more people watching the women’s team on a regular basis – even if the Amex games are better attended whilst the new stadium is built, that would be a start. I hope some of the fans who primarily follow the men’s team can now appreciate how skilled the women’s players truly are and though the game might be played slightly differently, there is no less excitement or action.

For SheGulls this has been immense. Not only were we permitted to take part in the pre-match media day, which was incredibly valuable, but we also featured in the official matchday programme and were interviewed by the BBC and TNT Sports in the build-up.

In terms of our media arm, these opportunities are the validation we seek as we try to bring Albion fans closer to the action in order to forge that bond we saw between the field and the stands yesterday.

In terms of our supporters’ club arm, not only were we exceptionally proud of the turnout and behavior of everyone, we also took immense pride in knowing how many of the fans have been on this journey with us. We’ve always said if you feel like a SheGull, you are one, and it felt like we had a whole heck of a lot of SheGulls there yesterday.

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Closing

Just a big thank you from me personally to everyone who came, everyone who supported from the South Coast, every neutral who rooted for us – you made it all worthwhile. We didn’t come back with the trophy, but we came back with our pride and an incredible amount of optimism about what next season could bring. Up the Albion!