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Gone with the WingsBrighton & Hove Albion v Nottingham Forest WFC in the FA Cup 4th Round at The Peoples Pension Stadium |
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Where are we and What's going on?
We are back at the Broadfield Stadium after a long winter break. It was mild mid-winter day in Crawley. There has been a lot of rain but hopefully the pitch will be ok and it continues to stay dry. It’s the fourth round of the FA Cup so time for the WSL teams to enter. Brighton have drawn Nottingham Forest. Forest sit 7th in WSL2. Will they see this as an important challenge or be saving themselves for a playoff push. The Albion will be looking to get back to winning ways after losing away to Villa last weekend despite taking an early lead through Fuka. Will Dario field a changed line up with a scattering of youngster like in the League Cup. We’ll find out shortly.
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| Blue skies at the Broadfield |
Teams are out. Chia is in goal but there is no sign of Baggers. Hope she is ok. A new face to us in defence alongside Moeka is Manuala Vanegas. She’s been here for a while but we've not seen her before. Carabali has left 😢, headed for the NWSL to play for Boston. Also absent is Fran. Rumours are that she is headed to Juventus 🛫. We hope that's not true but good for Fran if it is. The full backs are Marisa and Charlie. The 6,8, and 10 are Maisie, Fuka and Nadine. Up front are Rosa, Madie and Kiko.
There is a familiar face in the Forest line up. Deanne Rose was noted for her thuggery when she was a Leicester City player. We expect to see more of the same today.
We’ve had Pizza and swapped stickers. The Samba band have warmed out with their increasingly large collection of drums. They get things going with Sussex by the Sea (Samba remix). Let’s go Brighton, Let’s go.
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| Samba band drummer Auntie Helen |
Off we go..
The Albion kick off and are straight on the attack. Rosa’s early shot is saved. Brighton are able to keep the ball but not doing much with it.
Forest are a determined bunch and win a corner on 7. They get first contact but the header misses the goal.
Rosa is booked for a professional foul. The Albion are pressing high and willing to take one for the team to keep Forest pinned in their own half.
Play stops on 29 as Aimee Claypole goes down injured. There are an increasing number of medics on the pitch and she is eventually stretched off 🚑. She is replaced on the pitch by Charlie Wellings. Hope that’s not as bad as it looked. Never nice to see.
It’s typical Brighton with lots of safe possession but no real risk taking in front of goal. Nadine gets a shot off but it’s off target.
Into 8 minutes of added time and Kiko is fouled in the box. It’s a penalty to Brighton. Maisie hangs on to the ball while the fuss dies down. She hands over to Madie who takes it and scores for the Albion on 45+3.
Maisie comes close to scoring herself on 45+8 and it takes a good save to deny her. Rosa’s shot is blocked on 45+10 so it’s a narrow lead for Brighton at the break.
Forest kick off but the Albion are soon back in charge. Madie hits over, Maisie forces a save and Manuela heads over from a corner. Somehow it’s still just 1-0 after a bit of an onslaught from Brighton.
Dario makes his first change on 57 as Jelena comes on to replace Fuka who has had a good game.
Maisie is down injured and it doesn’t look good but she eventually get to her feet to be reminded 🎵she’s one of our own🎵.
There are chance both ways with Nadine forcing a save on 65 shortly followed by a Forest corner that is thankfully cleared. It might start to get a bit nervy if we can’t increase the lead.
There is another change on 72. Carla Camacho replaces Rosa. Carla goes central and Madie moves to the left.
Deanne Rose is replaced on 78 just after a bad foul on Manuela. Coming on in her place appears to be Vivienne Leigh. It’s actually Lia but it fooled us for a minute.
Chiamaka is forced to make a good save from Rachel Rowe. Chia goes down injured a couple of minutes later. We’re all a bit worried as we don’t have Baggers as backup and it’s still too close for comfort. She is soon back out and ready for action. Phew!
Dario uses his last windows to make a 3rd sub. It’s Rachel McLauchlan coming on for Charlie Rule who gets a quick rendition of her song.
Rachel makes an instant impact on the attacking nature of the team. Maisie gets a chance but puts her shot wide.
Brighton get a corner as the 4th official announces 5 extra minutes.
One corner turns into a whole flurry of corners. The 1st is blocked, The following one is blocked initially but drops to Cankovic who taps it home from close range on 90+2 ⚽. A big relief. Double phew!
It finishes on 90+5 with a win for the Albion who progress to the 5th round draw on Monday. An interesting draw please.
We think it’s all over..
That was a good result without being the best game. It was a bit dull and a triumph of possession over aggression. Perhaps missing Frans competitive edge but it did come to life for the last 5 or so minutes. It was the high tempo attacking football that we know the Seagulls are capable of. It was a bit nervy at 1-0. Forest never really threatened but a goal back was always a possibility. The Seagulls chose to wait into injury time to settle our nerves. And the first goal was in injury time too. Not sure if that means anything? Maybe there is something in that, related to mentality. Feeling the pressure of the clock ⏰ and doing something about it.
The changes were positive which is something we have an issue with under Dario. Using Madie to wear them down and then bringing on Carla to run at them is the sort of change we like. We would like to see Madie playing as the 10, holding the ball up and feeding Carla in the 9. We are big fans of Nadine but she has had better games with her first touch letting her down too many times in the Forest box.
The crowd was a bit disappointing considering it’s the first home game since mid December but that’s how it is with cup games sometimes. The draw is on Monday where we will find out our opponents for the 5th round. Do we have a preference? Not really, just not West Ham or Villa again as we are always playing them in one cup or another. It’s cup action for Newhaven up next as we make the trip to Godalming in Scary Surrey.
The other bits
POTM: Today's award goes to Fuka Tsunoda for her best performance we have seen in a Brighton shirt. She has great feet and used them to great effect today to keep Forest pinned in with a high press.
The officials get no complaints from us so well done and thanks.
There is no printed programme to peruse so again it’s a 0/10 (should be -10).
The Scran’O’meter scored the Margarita Pizza the usual 10/10, Thanks Doughshack. The lattes were a steaming hot 8/10.
Love Tranmerekat 🐾
