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The Dolls of the ValleyBrighton & Hove Albion v Charlton Athletic AFC Women in the WSL at The Peoples Pension Stadium |
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Where are we and What's going on?
The Seagulls host the Addicks in their final group game of the WSL Subway Cup. The chances of the Albion qualifying for the knockout stages are almost non-existent since losing to West Ham. It would, however, be good to go out in style tonight. That could be hard harder than it looks though. Charlton are 4 points clear at the top of WSL2 after 8 games. They are in the habit of winning and won’t want to lose any momentum tonight. The Seagulls are playing for pride.
Dario has chosen to use this as the opportunity to rotate his squad and rest some of the senior players. A few of the Under 19s will get a game tonight. The Seagulls also have a 6 pointer against Leicester at the AMEX on Sunday so both resting some legs and building experience through the squad sounds like a good plan.
The team sheets are out. Fran is unavailable due to illness. As expected, Baggers is in goal. It might be a back 4 with Maelys Mpome, Jorelyn Carabali, Marit Auee and Rachel McLauchlen. In the middle are Emily Gay, Fuka Tsenoda and Nadine Noordam. Up front are Rosa Kafaji, Tahirah Heron and Elliana Martin. That’s 3 youngsters getting a start.
Charlton aren’t new to women’s football having played at the highest level as Bromley Borough and later Croydon. It’s going to be an interesting game and anyone expecting a repeat of the Southampton result could be very much mistaken. Hoping for a good performance and not penalties as it’s a school night. It’s a small crowd of 566 all cramped into the West Stand. The Samba band is close by. Let's hope there's plenty to make a noise about. 🎵Let’s go Brighton, let's go!🎵
Off we go..
The first shot comes from the visitors. It’s tame and doesn’t trouble Baggers. Brighton soon start to occupy the Addicks half. They are being well supported by the noise from the ‘Atmosphere’ section. They are being frustrated and unable to create anything positive due to the Addicks harassing and closing down. Rosa receives the ball on the wing. She is tackled and it goes out. The ref flags for a Brighton throw so Rosa takes it. The ref then changes his mind and gives the throw to Charlton. What!
Emily Gay is playing well in the 6. Tahira Heron is getting good space down the right wing and she wins the first Seagulls corner on 14. Looks like Fuka Tsunoda is on corner duty tonight. Nothing comes of it though. Charlton are defending very well. They are sitting in a low block at times and denying any quality passing from Brighton.
They may be sitting back but they know how to break, Our hearts are in our mouths as Marit and McAteer tangle at the edge of the box. Fortunately, the ref doesn’t see anything wrong with it. However, the ball breaks clear and it takes a sliding tackle from Jorelyn to put it behind for a corner. The ball is recycled after the corner and the inbound cross bounces awkwardly, evading everyone in defence including Baggers, to land in the back of the net on 18. Oops. 0-1. Not how we wanted to start. It takes a couple of minutes for the scoreboard to update. It does eventually update. Boo. There is no VAR here to update the score after the fact. Plenty of time to get back at them.
Brighton are able to get the ball in the box, via Heron and the right wing but it’s very crowded. And the passing is not quick or accurate enough to break through this well organised defensive line. The Addicks are pressing too. They know that the Seagulls are prone to mistakes at the back when under pressure. A back pass to Baggers is in turn passed to Maelys but it’s too short. The Addicks striker pounces but is tackled and loses the ball.. The attacker continues her run though and flattens Baggers. The move carries on and the ball ends up in the Brighton net before Baggers can get to her feet. It’s thankfully ruled out and a freekick awarded for the foul on Baggers. Phew. Still 0-1.
Just a minute later and it’s fired just over Bagger's crossbar after more dodgy passing at the back. Need to tighten up Brighton. The Seagulls are pressing again but can find any spaces to pass into. Rosa is not getting much help down the left. She tries a shot from range but it’s over both the bar and the stand roof.
A poor backpass from Jorelyn is closer to the striker than Baggers but Baggers makes a good save. Phew. Charlton are getting better possession than Brighton at the moment.
Some good play down the Seagulls left at last as Rosa runs onto a through ball on 37. She puts in a good cross but Nadine’s touch lets her down and the keeper collects it. There is more space down the left now but for some reason all the effort is going into trying to play through the middle. Tahira is struggling with the physical battle on the right.
The Addicks are a very aggressive physical side and are winning individual battles all over the pitch. Another cross in, this one from Rachel, is claimed by the keeper who is having a good game. We have a good shout for a penalty as Jorelyn is caught from behind as she runs onto a ball in the box. Ref decision is a corner. Don’t know what he was watching. Jorelyn gets a good header on the corner but it’s just tipped over. The resulting corner is headed straight to the keeper. There is just 1 added minute. It’s 0-1 at the break. The sides are separated by a lucky bounce and some bloke in a yellow shirt.
There are 4, yes 4, changes for the Albion as they re-emerge. Going off are Rosa, Maelys, Nadine and Rachel. Coming on are Maisie 🎵she’s one of our own🎵 Symonds, Carla, Caitlin and Evie Milner. There are now 4 of the under 19s squad on the pitch. Caitlin goes in at centre back and Jorelyn moves across to right back. Evie slots in at left back. The drums 🥁 of the band get us going with Sussex by the sea, Samba 🪇 style.
Tahirah goes down off the ball on 49. It doesn’t look good. She is helped up by the physios to great applause but can’t walk so they call for the stretcher 🚑. She is replaced by Taylor Warren who swaps wings with Elliana Martin.
It’s transitional for a while and Charlton come closest with a cross that skims the top of the bar. Brighton start to gain some control in the game. Jorelyn and Maisie combining well up the right. Jorelyn has a good shot from inside the box but it curls just wide of the far post. From the corner, she gets another chance. It’s an improvised lob from the far post. It’s agonisingly close to the top corner as it skims off the bar. Seagulls are getting closer. 🎵There’s only one Carabali🎵.
It’s all Albion but the Addicks are so solid in defence, blocking passes and more importantly blocking runs inside the box. Caitlin hits the far post and Jorelyn misses an open goal. Taylor Warren is playing well down the left wing. It’s all much more positive. Carabali is on fire. The passing is much more creative now. Caitlin is pushing everyone up the pitch. Maisie and Jorelyn combining well on the right with lots of 1-2s. Maisie finds the best shot so far from outside the box. It needs a great save to tip it over the bar. The corner is too low and comes to nothing. Carla is getting the ball with her back to goal but is so well marked, she can’t turn.
The Addicks are still threatening to break occasionally. A fantastic run from Maisie results in a yellow card for Charlton’s Bradley. The free kick is floated in by Fuka, Caiten Hayes meets it but is denied by another fantastic save by Pederson. So close again. Another chance from Gay forces a good save. It looks like an equaliser might be coming soon with 18 to play. Who knew that Jorelyn was such a good attacking right back.
But, the Seagulls still can’t find a way through the close packed defence. They need to be careful though as Charlton make a fast break. Luckily the shot is into the side netting. Maisie’s cross looks like it’s met by an Addick’s arm but there are no appeals. The ball is now spending plenty of time in the Charlton box. It just never quite bounces right or there is always a defender on hand in the right place. Lots of crosses coming in from Brighton but the defending is great. Caitlin is playing as a 9 now and getting half chances. The Seagulls' best chance for a while comes as a fast break ends with the ball at Carla’s feet at the edge of the box. She drags the shot wide, or is it deflected. Goal kick so the ref thinks not.
The play down the right is good but the crosses are well defended and Carla and Martin can’t eke out a decent chance. There are 7 added minutes. A fantastic chance for Carla as a high cross loops in from Fuka. She gets a head to it but it goes just wide. There are some great crosses going in. Maisie’s rushed shot from the edge of the box is sliced so badly it goes out for a throw. Oops. Dougie Tuck would be proud of that. #sliceitliketuck The pressing hasn’t stopped this half and nor have the drums. 🎵Give me a B🎵. It can still go to penalties if we get a late equaliser. But it doesn’t. Defeat for the Seagulls at the Broadfield. Not what we want on the night but doesn’t really matter as we can’t progress in the cup having lost to West Ham. Home time now.
We think it's all over..
Firstly, we hope that the injury to Tahirah isn’t as bad as it looked and she is back running the wing soon.
It ended up as a good game with more of how we expect the Seagulls to perform. It wasn’t the result we wanted though. The Albion will have been viewed as a big scalp to Charlton. They wanted it, they went for it and they got it. It was a lucky bounce that beat the defence and Baggers. Could they have done better? Maybe, but if you don’t try, you don’t get lucky. The Albions tried lots but got very little luck. They could maybe have had a penalty or even two. Not lucky with the officiating either.
It was good to see so many youngsters getting their chance on the pitch. All of them did well and were improving the more minutes they got. A full 90 minutes in a senior competition will be fantastic for the development of Emily and Elliana. Next up is Leicester at the AMEX on Sunday. Hopefully, the full squad will be available for that. Performances at the AMEX have been slowly improving so we look forward to 3 points incoming. Leicester have struggled to get going this season so fingers crossed. We won’t be there but hope to make the away game to London City at Hayes Lane. Up next are Newhaven then Chelsea. See you then.
The Other Stuff
POTM: goes to Jorelyn for that storming performance down the right wing in the 2nd half.
The officiating was weird. Some very odd calls. Flagging the throw to Brighton then changing your mind after it’s been taken. It was a new one on us and probably everyone else. If it was a foul throw (it wasn’t), why didn’t he indicate that. And flag the earlier Charlton foul throw as such. He was lucky that it was an honest game of football with neither side interested in gaining an advantage with the dark arts. The teams may have rotated due to it being a cup competition but that’s not a reason for the PGMufcOL to do the same.
The Scran’O’meter was in its element with the lovely Margherita pizza 10/10. No latte, chips or doughnuts available today though. Unusually, we went for hot chocolate and it was lovely. 8/10.
Love Tranmerekat 🐾
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| Cup Football Under the Lights at the Broadfield |
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| Sussex by the sea |
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| Watching from the stand |
