Women's Super League
The American Express Communuty Stadium, Falmer
Admission: £5.00
Programme: £2.50
Attendance: 2,274
Having missed out on taking in a football game yesterday - the first Saturday in many years that I did not go to football when the opportunity was there - I was certainly determined to take in some today. After a long day yesterday watching the cricket at The Oval between England and India, I had little interest in making my way back up to the big smoke today, preferring to stay local, and with Brighton & Hove Albion Women unusually playing their fixture today at The Amex (their usual fixtures take place at Crawley Town's Broadfield Stadium, and the train connections working out better than my alternatives, I headed along to Falmer today.
Tickets for this fixture were a very reasonable £5.00 each, happily with no additional tickets fees payable, with tickets downloadble to one's Apple or Google Wallet, and use the NFC technology at the electronic turnstiles. Only the lower East Stand was open for today's fixture, unusually, as I believe it is more common for the West Stand to be open for such fixtures when only a small part of the ground is opened. And this decision turned out to be rather unfortuante today, as very warm sunshine, making its first appearance for many weeks today, shone straight onto the spectators, with conditions feeling very hot. A 32 page programme was producted for this fixture, in full colour on glossy paper, although it did require some effort to track down, with no vendors outside the stadium or in the concourse, and I only realised that they could be purchased from the refreshments counter when I saw some on the counter. Queuing has always seemed to be a major issue at the Amex, and today was certainly no different.
Brighton had a reasonable season in 2020-21 under the leadership of former England Women's coach Hope Powell, finishing in sixth place following eight wins and three draws from their 22 league games. West Ham finished in ninth place in the 12 club division, and although only the bottom place club was relegated, West Ham were only three points clear in the end. Last season, Brighton won both league fixtures against West Ham 1-0.
On a hot and sunny afternoon, this game was even in the opening stages, and West Ham had the early chances. First, Adriana Leon sent in a perfect whipped cross from the right, but Mel Filis could only head the ball high and wide, and on 27 minutes, Leon sent a curling cross from well outside the area, which swirled over the keeper and bounced off the crossbar. But just as West Ham were getting in the ascendancy, the game turned on 33 minutes. After the West Ham keeper just managed to claw the ball away from the feet of Ellie Brazil and when the ball rolled to team mate Danielle Carter to run onto, her first time goalbound shot was blocked by the hand of West Ham defender Hawa Cissoko, and the referee had little hesitation in pointing to the spot for a penalty, and showing a straight red card to Cissoko. Inessa Kaagman struck the spot kick into the right side of the net, evading the hands of the keeper who went the right way. And on 40 minutes Brighton doubled their lead with a hint of good fortune. Megan Connolly's speculative long range low shot took a couple of deflections before finding its way into the path of Guenmin Lee, who cooly slotted the ball past the keeper's dive and into the net.
So, the visitors certainly had a mountain to climb in the second half, a player down as well as two goals down in hot conditions, but to their credit they kept battling away and saw a few shots go just high or wide. There was a feeling that Brighton were doing just enough to see the game out, and they did have a couple of chances themselves, but in the end a clean sheet victory was close to a perfect way for Brighton to start their season.
Brighton: Walsh, Le Tissier, Kerkdijk, Williams (Gibbons 67), Koivisto, Brazil, Whelan (Simpkins 78), Connolly, Kaagman, Lee (Symonds 55), Carter (Green 78).
Subs not used: Bowman, Babajide, Green, Stenson, Robinson, Adabowale.
West Ham United: Arnold, Wyne, Flaherty, Cissoko, Fisk (Parker 45), Evans, Stringer, Filis (Longhurst 45), Hasegawa, Leon, Walker.
Subs: Leat, Garrad, Cairns, Joel.
Red Card: Cissoko 33
Booked: Longhurst 55, Stringer 60
Referee: Emily Heaslip
Booked: Symonds
Attendance: 2264
Short video highlights of this match can be viewed by clicking here.
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