Foxes On The Run

Brighton & Hove Albion WFC play Leicester City WFC in the WSL at the People's Pension Stadium in Crawley

The Seagulls host the Foxes 🦊 at the Broadfield Stadium in the last game of the 22-23 WSL season. Brighton have managed to reach safety already but Leicester need to win to stay up. I t's in their hands but if they lose and Reading beat the Chels then the Foxes are going down  👇  to the Championship.  Brighton playing for pride but have announced a list of 5 players leaving at the end of the season. This will be the last game for Victoria "skipper" Williams, Megan Walsh, Megan Connelly, Kayleigh Green and Danny Carter. All good players so sad to see them go. 😢 Thank you and good luck for the future. Hope it doesn't prove too much of distraction this afternoon. I'm sure we will see them all at some point today to allow us to give them a good cheer 👏. It looks like a front 3 for the Seagulls with Lee and Katie wide and Terland in the middle but a bit deeper. First time we have seen her use three at the back with Stott, Bergsvand and Morse. Kullberg and Green are wing backs with Zigaotti and Symonds in the middle. Megan is in goal as Lydia is still out. Off we go.

It's all on the line for Leicester and they start like they mean it. It might be the pressure but they could clearly do with some target practice as the shooting is somewhat wide. The football was scrappy but the Foxes were better organised and the Seagulls struggled to keep the ball and make progress. No shots on target in the first half. Reading are 2-0 down to Chelsea so the pressure is off the visitors a little.

The Foxes start brighter after the break and Megan has to make a couple of good saves. The only goal comes from a corner that should have been a goal kick. The Seagulls defence are too slow to respond and it is scrambled home. There are plenty of changes and Julia give Vicky the armband when she comes on to big cheers. There are a couple more dodgy decisions for throws going the wrong way at the same end. Brighton have a couple of good attacks but can't score and the season finishes with a loss. "We are staying up" can be heard from the far corner.

There is a presentation for the players leaving at the end of the season and then a lap of honour.   Thanks to all of them; they leave some big boots to fill.

POTM: Today it goes to Megan Walsh who played well and made a couple of good saves keeping the score within reach. Sad to see her go. Her highlight for us was the penalty shoot-out against West Ham where she was awesome and won it with some great saves. 🧤

Scanometer loves this place. Pizza 🍕baked in a wood fired oven and some of the best football chips 🍟going it was yummy as ever. Washed down with luxury hot chocolate ☕ with cream and marshmallows was a great end to the season. 👍

The Seagulls have made good progress under Melissa and today she tried a few different things and the result could have gone either way today. It would have been nice to see the leavers sign off with a win but in the end, it made no difference to either team. Hopefully a busy and productive summer for the Seagulls. 🤞

Met Gully for the first time today and almost got eaten 😨. Bring back Sally please.

That's it, the end of a very long and busy season. 64 matches attended and reported on. From an 11-0 victory to an 8-0 loss and everything in between. Whether it was, sweating in the sun at Crawley, frozen solid at Whitehawk and soaked through at Brentford, it's been great fun. We have been in crowds that numbered from a handful to setting records for both international and domestic club games.

Time for a break now. See you in July.

Love Tranmerekat 🐾

Nice day for some footie

Home of the Red Devils

Meeting Gully for the first time

Don't Eat Me!

Gully is stalking me

Presentation for the Leavers

Kerr She Goes

Manchester United Women play Chelsea WFC in the FA Cup Final at Wembley

Here we are back at Prenton Park Sarf. It's  Reds  v  Blues , West London v South London (stop that!) in the first final for the Red Devils. The Blues have won it a few times including the last 3 and one or two others recently. These two teams are also in contention for the WSL title so what will it be; will it be honours shared or will someone do the double. It's the clean sheet Queen 👑 (Mary Queen of Stops ⛔) against the backflipping 🤸‍♀️ goal machine Sam Kerr. Can't wait..

It starts badly for the Blues. Leah Galton scores in 20 seconds. Not that we could see because late arrivals were still coming in and the crowd in front was standing up. Good job that is was ruled offside for Tooney earlier in the move. Chelsea continued to struggle and were under pressure for a good, or bad, 5 minutes. In a rare move, Chelsea play forward and Lauren James leaves it as she is miles offside but then she tries to shield the ball from Maya before Nieve can get there. It's clearly offside as Lauren is interfering but it takes an aaaaage for the whistle to go. Was a bit strange and not sure what the thinking was from anyone. Nikita is having a good game and hits the target but it is saved on 12. A Tooney freekick leads to a goalmouth scramble but AKB makes the save. Chelsea are creating their own problems sloppy passing giving the ball away in dangerous areas. Leah Galton misses at the near post. Finally, Lauren James goes on one of her runs and curls it into the top corner but Mary stretches to save it hurting herself in the process. No score at the interval and its looking a bit one sided. Chelsea need to find something.

It restarts and is scrappy in the middle but long balls give chances both ways. Utd at the first to make changes to try to break the deadlock. Williams comes on for Nikita and Toone goes wide right. They have taken their best player off. To make it worse Harder and Ingle come on. Harder has 2 quick two chances. The goal comes from Guru s incisive pass, harder pulls it back for Kerr to slam home out of the reach of a scrambling Earps on 62 ⚽. We are treated to our first Sam Kerr backflip. Charles off for Carter to show up the defense. The game is now more open for Chelsea. More changes with Garcia on for Blundell and Manion on for Toone. Ella does not look happy at being subbed and goes off in a grump. Williams is enjoying the physicality but Erin Cuthbert on the receiving side, less so. Sophie Ingle has a chance on goal but blasts it way over the bar. Ona beats Carter out wide but her cross is scuffed by Russo and the chance is lost. The 90 is nearly up when Buchanon comes on for James and the blues and go to 3 at the back. Shades of Steve McNulty in 2019 that change. It goes into 6 mins of injury time and the Reds get a late corner, Mary goes up but Garcia's cross is saved by AKB. All over at Wembley. The Blues win today but the Reds are leading the chasing pack.

It was a better game than the scoreline would have you believe. We were at the Man Utd end but cheering for the CHELS. It would have been very different if the early goal had stood but both sides could have done with being calmer and more efficient. Chelsea have won the FA Cup for the 4th year 🏆🏆🏆🏆 in a row and now need to concentrate on the WSL to make it a quadruple of doubles. There was also a record crowddanc for a domestic Women's match of 77,390 people and 1 Meerkat.

POTM: Is on the losing side for once but it goes to Nikita who is on fire 🔥 at the moment. Hope she gets to the World Cup 🌍🏆.

Scranometer went off in a sulk too after the old style veggie burger. It was at least fairly warm so get a 3/10 for that. Compensation came from the pick n mix which was yummy even if it did cost the same as the match tickets.

Just one game to go.  See you there.

Love Tranmerekat 🐾

At the home of the Lionesses

Big crowd

Up the Chels

Time to go home

Prenton Park Sarf

Paint It Blackstenius

BHAWFC v Arsenal WFC in the WSL at the People's Pension Stadium in Crawley

We are back at the Broadfield stadium where the Seagulls are hosting the Gunners. It's rained hard were so hope pitch is not too slippy. This is the Seagulls penultimate home game and it will be a tough one against the high flying Gunners. Brighton are closing in on league safety and the red army (seen here in quite a nice black kit) are looking to get into the top 3 to ensure European football next season. Poppy starts as Jorga is injured (ACL) and Stefanovic replaces the unwell Megan Connolly. Walti was on the team sheet but has pulled out unwell and been replaced by our Jodie. Jodie goes up front and Palova has dropped back into the 6.

It takes Blackstinius a whole 4 minutes to breach the Brighton defences as her wide run is challenged by Morse who slips over and leaves her free in the box to slot it in from an angle. Brighton sloppy passing outside their own box gifts her an easy second 3 minutes later. Is very soon nearly 3 but it's disallowed for offside. The Seagulls settle a little bit but ride their luck with Blackstinius hitting both the crossbar and the side netting. We get a couple of half chances but neither Kayleigh green nor Terland can find the target. The gunners 3rd goal comes again from poor defending with unchallenged crosses and Freida heads it home. Freida assists for the 4th as she threads a pass through to Palova. The angle is tight but she slots it in between Megan and the near post to make it 4-0 in the last minute of the first half. Time for the Seagulls to regroup.

It works as they make some changes with Sarri on for Lee and Bance on for Stefanovic. They defend and press much better. Arsenal take off Refeala from defence for Geo in attack. The Gunners win a string of corners to no avail. Stina has another clear chance but Megan saves it well. The seagulls are attacking more and Zinsberger has to make a good save from Terland on 62. Megan makes a better one from Kuhl. It becomes quite end to end with changes at both ends. Geo goes off injured and Foord comes on in her place. Thanks for that. The last half hour is good to watch with lots of competitive football and chances at both ends. Carter comes on for Katie at 75. There are more chances for the Seagulls but they are held to a draw in the second 45. Shame about the other bit.

Not a great result for the seagulls and they will be disappointed with the defensive mistakes but at times they equalled Arsenal. A good result was always unlikely so "Wa dust wa selves down" and move on to the next one. Highlights were Poppy being a little rough side (just shy of full Jodo) with Jodie. Nice to see youngsters showing their elders so little respect. Katie was being her usual nuisance on the wings and was combative in the middle too. Megan made couple of stunning saves late on to stop Blackstenius getting her hattrick. The Seagulls now need just 2 points from the last 2 games to be safe 🤞

POTM: Goes to Katie Robbo for some of the running on the with leaving Katie McCabe in her tracks.🏃‍♀️

Ref was the best seen here for a while. You do know what you're doing.

Scranometer had a bumper day with the Dough Shack Pizza 9/10 🍕, Chips 🍟in a cup, some of the best football ground chips, 8/10 and a Luxury Hot Chocolate with cream and marshmallows 10/10. Helped off-set the disappointment of the football.

See you soon

Love Tranmerekat 🐾

Back at the Broadfield

Rainbow

New flag

Met Sally again

Nice night for watching football

Waiting For The Hammers To Fall

Brighton & Hove Albion WFC v West Ham WFC in the WSL at the Peoples Pension Stadium in Crawley

The Seagulls face the Hammers ⚒ at the Broadfield Stadium as we head into the last 4 games of the season. The last meeting here was in the Conti Cup game and finished 0-0. The Seagulls won the shoot-out with a Megan Walsh masterclass but were knocked out of the cup anyway. The Irons in 8th on a poor run of form. Hope that continues. Seagulls new manager, Mellissa, is aiming for 2 home wins in a row. Lydia is in goal and then she isn't a she goes off looking like she is in pain at the start of the warm up. Megan steps up into the starting 11. Guro Bergsvand is alongside Morse at the back and Emma Kullberg moves across to leftback. Be good to see if she can use her pace down the wing.  It was the coronation of King 👑  Charles 3rd yesterday so we sang the National Anthem flag 👀. 

Heading for the West Stand

It starts lively and there is plenty of attacking football from both sides but with little end product. There are lots of offside decisions but we don't want to get told off for commenting on them🤐. There could easily be goal both ways with a bit more quality and composure. The Hammers nearly score but Zoe Morse is on the line to make the final block. Asseyi is doing her normal throwing herself down and screaming to get free kicks. Ref must say something as it stops, the screaming anyway. Jorga is injured in injury time and subbed off for Poppy. Kullburg moves to the right to allow Poppy to slot in at leftback. Level at the break.

Second half is much the same until Lee wins the ball with a sliding tackle, love it, the ball runs to Katie who loops a cross to far post. It goes over Terlands head but Kayleigh Green is there to head it in to the net on 57 ⚽. She tries a knee slide but it suddenly stops dead and she ends up flat on her face. Doh. Strange incident 10 minutes later when Terlend runs into the box and it looks like she is pushed in the back, recovers only to go down again. Her reward is a yellow card. Confused. If anyone knows what that was about please let me know. We were even more confused when Lucy Parker is booked but also won the free kick. Not sure that's how it works but what do I know. It got a bit tense at the end as the Irons ramped up the pressure but the Seagulls defence held firm. Another home win to make it 2 in a row.

Good view of the kick off

Another great performance from Brighton and a deserved win. They were always calm and composed even when provoked by opposition fouling and diving. Mellissa has led them to a complete turnaround in form. It's looking good for the rest of the season. Another 2 points makes them safe. Arsenal at home up next and who knows what might happen there.

POTM: Katie Robinson just keeps getting better and created some great chances.

Scranometer enjoyed the day with one of the nice cauliflower and chesse pies. Very tasty. 8/10 . Chips also as good as ever. 8/10 too.

Ref controlled the game well but there were one or two odd decisions but a watch back may explain those.

See you, and hopefully the Pizza Van🍕, back here on Wednesday.

Love Tranmerekat 🐾

Seagulls

Hungry like the Wolves

Arsenal WFC v Vfl Wolfsburg at the Emirates Stadium in the UWCL semi-final second leg

The Gunners play Die Wölfinnen at Ashburton Grove in North London. A very dramatic first leg that saw the Gunners come back from 2 down in 25 minutes to level at 90. This was some achievement for the hugely depleted squad and it means its winner takes it all tonight with the prize a meeting with Barcelona in Eindhoven. Leah is out as she has joined the ACL gang during the Man Utd game. With the lack of defenders the Gunners are playing a back 3 with Lotta, Raffaella and Jen Beatie in the middle. Kim Little is still out but Katie Foord may be back. Spoiler alert: She's not back. The She Wolves field a strong team the Lina "The Destroyer" Oberdorf and Alexandra Popp. Let's hope Popp doesn't pop up too often so we can avoid any more Popp popping up jokes. Soz!

Both teams pushing from the whistle with Stina pressing the keeper in the first minute. There is a VAR penalty check for a Wolfsberg penalty in the 3rd minute. Took an age and the ref stopped play which was weird but penalty declined and off-side given instead. HAHA. Stina breaks through and scores on 12 ⚽ running on to a pass from Walti. It goes to another VAR check for a foul by Stina but it's given without a ref check. Arsenal get their tails up now and are attacking but not breaking through. Pelova runs on to a good pass from Catley but is dispossessed in the box by Hendrich. It falls to Maritz but she blazes it over the bar. Arsenal are defending better although both keepers are called into action. The She Wolves start to come back into it a bit with 10 to go. They are rewarded when Jill Roord fires it home through a crowd of bodies from the edge of the box on 41. Arsenal respond but it's level again at the break.

Blackstenius puts it in the net in the 2nd minute. The crowd go wild. It's a great goal with a pass from Freda right through the midfield and defence to Maritz who crosses to Stina but it is eventually ruled out for off-side earlier in the move. Boooo. Ten minutes in and some sustained Wolfsburg pressure pays off when Popp pops up to head it in at the near post from a corner on 57. Gunners make some changes with Wienroither for Maritz and Hurtig for Stina. Weird taking you best striker off when you need a goal. Has Jonas got his maths wrong? Zinsberger has her usual nap to allow the girls to regroup on 70 minutes today. It's end to end and Jen goes up leaving just Lotte and Rafa. Pajor gets past then but Lotte makes an awesome tackle at the last second. Pajor then gives away a free kick. Catley's kick is recycled by Lotte and Jen heads it home on 77 ⚽. It takes an age for the resulting VAR check but who knows what they were checking? Measuring the gaps between their ears maybe. Gunners are level again⚖. Wienroither goes down heavily off the ball and is replaced by Danish youngster Kuhl. Hope it's not too bad but she was stretchered off. Spoiler alert it's yet another ACL. 😭 It's still level at 90 so extra time it is.

How deep can the depleted Gunners dig now to compete with the fresh legs of the Wolfsburg subs. Hurtig gets a great chance on 97 but it's well saved. Reds apply the pressure and Lotte nets after a scramble but it's ruled out for a foul. Jule Brand finally comes on for Wolfsburg at 100. It's level after the first 15 but the Arsenal legs are looking tired. Hope they can hold on. The second 15 is still end to end interrupted by the odd cramp break. Both sides want the winner. Katie McCabe comes so close when her cross goes over Frohms but it hits the crossbar. It's Lotte of the Gunners that makes the mistake that counts and the Wolfs substitutes combine to win back the ball and slot it home on 118. Lotte has played so well, really feel for her. Arsenal win a late corner but the ref points to a goal kick. It turns out it was off side but she didn't tell us. Injury time was painful to watch and but it finished with heartbreak. That a bunch of warriors this Arsenal team are. Depleted and tired, they took one of Europe's most successful clubs to the wire. It's the end of this journey but it's been a privilege to watch.

A shame about the result tonight as it could have gone either way but there were lots of tired legs and brains out there and it was a case of the next mistake could be to vital one. Arsenal's ridiculous injury list left them very thin on the bench with no real options to change it up or bring on fresh legs. Congratulations to the She Wolves and good luck in the Final 🤞. We set a new record for women's club football with 60063 people and 1 meerkat in the crowd. It was by far the best atmosphere of our visits here. The Gunners certainly making themselves heard.

POTM: goes to Jen Beatie for being not having played much this season to then come in and be immense at the back and then go up front and score a goal.

Refereeing was very different to all the other UWCL games we have been to with the hard interventions of VAR to absolutely no effect. Total waste of time.

The Scranometer had good night with a half pizza 🍕 in the ground. Hit the spot for a 8/10. Bonus was the stall outside the ground selling bags of sweets for £1 so it was foam bananas 🍌 for us on the train 🚃 home.

That's our European journey over for this year. It's been good fun and got to visit some top grounds and watch lots of elite footballers doing their thing. The highlight was the Chelsea win over Lyon with the VAR penalty in Fergie time and then the shootout win. We've met lots of nice Chelsea and Arsenal fans along the way too.

Love Tranmerekat 🐾

Packed in here

Norf Lardun

Tony The Redeemer

It's end to end action

Winning In The Rain

Newhaven FC v Crowborough Athletic in the final of the Peter Bentley Cup at the Beacon Ground

The Dockers ⚓ face the Crows in the final game of the season at the home of Hassocks fc. The league meetings this season were tight affairs and with the added pressure here we expect the same again. A surprise on the team sheet is Alfie Rogers on the bench. Bailie is back too but not sporting the expected batman mask. It's a cup game so it's decided today and goes straight to penalties if it's level at 90. Hope we get it done in 90 as we have to get off to the Emirates.

At the Beacon Ground

It starts in the sunshine but there isn't much else to smile about as it is very nervy from both sides. A few spots of rain was about as exciting as it got.

A suprise on the team sheet

It continues nervy into the second half until Demas comes on and it starts looking much better. We get a corner on the right and Lukas in-swinger swings more than anyone expects and goes in at the top corner ⚽. It looked like the keeper got a hand to it and helped it in but he didn't own up to it and Lukas claimed it so we're keeping quiet.🤐. The second came on 75 when Little's shot rolled across goalmouth and was back heeled in at the back post by Charlie Bennett ⚽. The heavens opened 🌧🌧🌧 for the last 10 minutes so we may not have seen all the action for a while. Alfie came on for the last few minutes it got a bit squeaky bum time as the crows scored on 94 but the wasn't time for the equaliser. Newhaven won. Champions 🏆.

Wasn't a great watch especially when it poured down but Newhaven win so who cares. The crows fans seem a bit upset that the Dockers starting line up is made up entirely of Whitehawk players.  Alfie is on the bench but other than that we are not sure where that rumour came from.  It certainly wouldn't survive a fact check. All done for Newhaven now, a well earned couple of months off now.  Sign off a great season with some silverware.

POTM: Goes to Lukas for both work rate and quality. What a great goal and played a part in the second.

Scranometer nearly starved and missed the kick off waiting for the egg 🍳 bap but it was lovely. 8/10. Chip 🍟 were cold though. Think they were a bit overwhelmed by the numbers but would be happy to come back here.

Our Hosts

Thanks to Hassocks for being such lovely hosts.  Shame we missed coming here last year but we understand why. 

See Newhaven next season and you in a couple of hours. 

Love Tranmerekat 🐾