When The Gooners Get Tough

Brighton & Hove Albion Women face Arsenal Women in the WSL at the Emirates Stadium

The Seagulls first trip to the Emirates with high hopes but moderate expectations. North London Forever and a rendition of the Last Post set the scene. Worst case scenario is 3rd place as the Gunners are 4 (yes, 4) point below.

Brighton look confident and have good possession but the defending is woeful. Arsenal are 3-0 up after 25 minutes with goals from Beth Mead (13), Caitlin Foord (22) and Frida Leonhardsen Maanum (25). Bugger. Efficient striking from the Gunners.  Baggers makes a great save from Beth Mead deep into injury time. With the clock ticking down, the Gunners decide to take a short corner and the ref blows the half time whistle before the ball can go into the box. Much moaning at the ref on the pitch but lots of laughing in the away end🤣.

The second half starts with Dotti getting injured and being replaced by Rachel McLauchlan on 50. The are a few Gunners chances but the ball is kept out of the net. The Seagulls find the energy for a brief surge and Kiko gets a couple of good chances, forcing a good save and hitting the cross bar. Nearly.  Lina Hurtig heads in a McCabe corner about a minute after coming on to replace Catlin Foord🙄. Dario finally makes his changes on 87 ⌚ and we see Masaka for the first time. Rosso gets round Caraballi then goes over in the box. Lessi just beats Baggers from the spot on 90+4. 5-0. Aisha Masaka starts to make an impact, threatening the Gunner goal. She is felled in the box and has to be stretchered off with gas and air and a shoulder injury. She isn't replaced and the last minute is played out 10 players.

The Gunners have found form at just the wrong moment for the Seagulls. They were outclassed all night. Not what we expected, although it was always on the cards. Great teams are still great teams even when they are playing badly. Still, we are a point above Arsenal in the table seven games into the season. Haha. Seagulls have a huge amount of credit in the bank so just have to put tonight behind them and think about West Ham on Saturday. A consolation goal would have been nice but there wasn't much of a goal threat tonight. It wouldn't have made much difference to the scoreline if they had Gunnersaurus in goal. Lots of lessons need to be learned and to work out what has changed since the Everton game but that's for tomorrow. Hope Masaka is OK and looking forward to seeing more of her playing in the near future. Time to leave North London (Not Forever, just until next time) and head back to Sussex By The Sea.

POTM: Not a great team performance but a couple of good sliding tackles from Jorelyn Carabali so she get the award again🏅.

Bottle top news: Normal service resumed and all bottle tops remained intact following the bag search.🍾

The stewarding was great and they had a good laugh at some of our songs.

Scran'o'meter learned from previous trips to the Emirates and took food from home so the concourse could be avoided. Special mention goes the Sweet Man at £1 a bag outside the stadium.

The ref was inconsistently inconsistent. Felt a bit like the hosts got the benefit of the doubt for every foul although off-side looked well officiated.

Love Tranmerekat 🐾

Clock End

Seagulls at the Emirates

Olislagers Corner

Here again

Sparks Fly

Newhaven FC v Oakwood FC at Tinsley lane in the RUR Cup 2nd Round

The Dockers finally make it to Tinsley Lane to face the Oaks in the RUR Cup after the postponement a couple of weeks ago. It's Bonfire night so we are expecting fireworks all around us but hopefully not on the pitch. The Dockers lost 5-0 away to Hassocks on Saturday . Hoping for a nice quiet win. Bussy back in goal is a good sign. It starts badly for the Dockers when the Oaks score from nowhere on 9. There is lots of protest about off-side and Bailie ends up booked. Lee levels the score a minute later. A couple more Dockers goals from Bailie and Luke Donaldson sees the half finish 1-3.

The second half sees a few more chances but no goals for the Dockers. The Oaks get a late second and the momentum is with them. Thankfully is not going to penalties as the Dockers hold on for the win. 2-3. WemberleeeeEastbourne.

A good win for the Reds but it was too nervy at the end (again) although they did hang on for the win this time. Newhaven are through to the Semi-finals and will be away at Eastbourne United in January. Hope we find a bit more form by then. And a few more return from injury.

POTM: There will be some tired legs out there after that shift but it goes to Koby for great work in attack and defence.

The ref will have had better days. He didn't protect the young lino who got 'Roger'd' And booking Breachy at the end to give us all a laugh.

Love Tranmerekat 🐾

Nice new ground

The Oaks

Dario Ga Ga

Brighton & Hove Albion Women face Leicester City Women in the WSL the Peoples Pension Stadium

We're at the Broadfield for the first time this season to watch the on-fire Seagulls take on the struggling Foxes 🦊. Brighton are 3rd and Leicester back in 7th. Dario was Manager of the Month of October🏆.  It's mild but feels like it's getting dark already. It's our remembrance game so the managers lay wreaths and the last post is played.

Brighton have great possession and dominate the ball from the start. The breakthrough comes on 20 when Nikita ⚽ heads home (again) from close range. The score board doesn't update and we start to wonder if it has been disallowed for some bizarre reason. The screen goes black and when it comes back on with the correct score, there is a big cheer. There are more chances and plenty of corners but it's a single goal advantage at the break.

It's business as usual with the Seagulls dominating the ball. The Foxes gradually start to get back into it a bit. The Leicester manager makes changes and they are more effective than those made by Brighton. They have 10 minutes of constant pressure as the Seagulls sit back and weather the storm. It's a big relief when the whistle goes.

It was never in doubt until it was. The Seagulls need to be more ruthless when dominating early in games. It would save a lot of nerves in the last 10 minues of games. Leicester defended well but didn't really look like scoring. It was great to be back at the Broadfield but a shame the 2082 attendance wasn't higher. Up next, the Gunners on Friday.

The ref was a bit of a useless article. Must not have been aware that he could book either side. The Seagulls got 3 yellows (4 if you count Dario) and the Foxes got none. Bonkers. 🤡

POTM: Goes to a top defender for keeping it all safe and organised at the back, Guru Bergsvand 🏅.

The Scran'o'meter was back at it's favourite place with the wood fired Pizza only getting 9 as it was downgraded by 0.0 for making us wait so long.

See you soon.

Love Tranmerekat 🐾

Back at the Broadfield