BRIGHTON EXTEND UNBEATEN STREAK

Nikita Parris celebrating her goal. Photo: BHAFCW

By Sophie Hodson (03/11/24) 

Brighton 1-0 Leicester 

Teams: 

Brighton Women- Baggaley (GK), Pattinson, Bergsvand, Losada ©, Parris, Kirby, Carabalí, Olislagers, Bruna, Haly, Mclauchlan 

Head Coach: Drio Vidosic 

Substitutes used: Maisie Symonds, Kiko Sieke, Michelle Agyemang 

Goalscorer: Nikita Parris 

Leicester Women- Leitzig (GK), Nevis, Tierney, Howard, Rose, Cayman ©, Ale, Kees, Chossenotte, Mace, Swaby 

Head Coach: Amandine Miquel 

Substitutes used: Hannah Cain, Yuka Momiki, Julie Thibaud, Saori Takarada, Missy Goodwin

Attendance: 2,082 

Referee: Ade Soneye 

Assistants: Sam Ogles & Aimee Kerr 

Fourth Official: Ella Broad 

The Seagulls and the Foxes created an exciting showdown for fans this cool November afternoon. With a second place league spot on the line, Brighton showed hunger and desire to achieve a new record of home games

unbeaten, but Leicester weren’t going to sit back. Despite a late desperate effort to equalise from the Foxes, the Albion ultimately demonstrated dominance and strength to seal a 1-0 victory at Broadfield Stadium. 

Within the first 20 minutes, Brighton were on the front foot playing positively within Leicester’s half. Even though there were some initial chances very early on for both sides, Brighton looked confident as they piled pressure onto Leicester who were having to rely on counter attacks to break the press.

After a few corners and free kicks as well as an open shot from unmarked Bruna Vilamala, which narrowly missed the target, the home side took the lead in the 19th minute. A beautiful cross from Carabelí down the wing was met by striker Nikita Parris. This crucial header off the post served as a reward for the Seagulls after their relentless press and connected style of play. 

Although Leicester conveyed an instant response in order to prevent conceding again, Brighton took their goal in their stride and continued to push for another. The game was slowly evening out with Baggaley being asked of for a few saves down the other end as well. In the 35th minute, the Albion had a rapid run of play in front of goal, forcing Leicester to show resilience and protect their goal despite no shots being converted. Parris had a chance but couldn’t quite net it home, however the centre-backs continued to create connections with the strikers and wingers which continued to threaten Leicester's back line. 

Before the end of the first half, Brighton made sure that they would go into the changing rooms on a bright note by maintaining their rhythm until Soneye blew the half time whistle. Olislagers instigated a few successful long balls down the wing for teammate Pattinson to meet, as well as the whole Brighton team threading a creative range of balls together, leaving Leicester uncertain how to shut them down.

Vilamala played an instrumental role for the home side, finding space all over the pitch, highlighting her versatility which ultimately resulted in her being in an open position for a long range shot which she narrowly missed.

Nikita Parris’ header remained the only thing to separate the sides at the break as Leicester needed a big 45 minutes to end Brighton’s best WSL start in their history. After half time, the Seagulls immediately retained their momentum, forcing the Foxes' keeper, Janina Leitzig of Germany, to put in some crucial stops in order to deter any more goals from the Seagulls.

Just a few minutes into the second half, Brighton had to deal with a Leicester counter-attack which was won back in the midfield by Fran Kirby. From which she threaded the ball through to teammate Parris, who was unable to convert.

The home side continued to earn corners and play with belief in each other. This was evident through individual confidence seen in an extremely long range shot from defender Carabalí in the 53rd minute, that barely cleared the crossbar. 

However, Leicester then went onto have a positive spell creating several opportunities. One offered calls for a potential penalty but the Albion were fortunately saved by the raised offside flag. In the 61st minute, Sam Tierney suffered an injury meaning medics were called for assistance.

Tierney unfortunately needed to leave the field in a stretcher, which was a significant blow for the Foxes. As a result, Cain replaced Chossenotte and Momiki came on for captain Cayman. Moments later, Brighton subbed on Symonds and Seike to offer fresh legs. Some promising substitutions from the foxes such as Missy Goodwin enforced a new sense of hope for the travelling side. 

Leicester gave away multiple fouls in dangerous positions leading to Brighton being able to capitalise off free kicks and corners. Thus allowing Kirby to take the blow of a yellow card for her team, after committing a foul when Leicester were attempting to counter.

Calls for a penalty rang again in the 79th minute as centre-back Howard of Leicester went down on the edge of the box but nothing came of it. Similarly in the 85th minute, Haley was brought down in the box on the other end of the field, after she met a superb over the top ball from Pattinson but yet again they weren’t awarded a penalty. 

Although the Brighton substitutions offered fresh desire, Leicester showed persistence as they began to find their feet, which disrupted the Seagulls rhythm in the latter stages of the second half. These intense last moments in the game saw a cluster of events where head coach Vidosic was shown a yellow card and youngster Michelle Agyemang looked to showcase her talent upfront.

In the 91st minute, Saori Takarada went down injured but after support from the medics, was able to return to her feet and continue playing. In the last few moments of extra time, Leicester showed a real threat towards the Albion, where they pinged in multiple crosses along the face of goal and were desperately creating great chances but were ultimately unable to equalise and Brighton took home the three points.