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Winner City LifeBrighton & Hove Albion v London City Lionesses in the WSL at The Peoples Pension Stadium |
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Where are we and What's going on?
The Seagulls host London City at the Broadfield on a very wet Sunday. It’s been raining since we were last here a couple of weeks ago. The big spending Kang Gang are having a great first season in the WSL. They are sitting just 1 point below Brighton in 7th. That makes this a big midtable 6 pointer. Albion won the away game in Bromley by a single goal scored by Madie on 6 minutes. Let’s hope they get it done today but that it’s less nerve-wracking. A single goal lead for 84 minutes wouldn’t be good for our nerves or our nails.
We were worried that it might be too wet but the ground has clearly had improvement work done since THAT Chelsea game. That was almost water polo 🤽.
There was some sad news in the week as we heard about the passing of Rado Vidosic. He was the father of Dario and Head of Women’s Coaching. It will be a tough one for the girls out there today.❤ Our thoughts are with his family and friends. Chris Roberts takes over management duties for the moment.
There is still no sign of Fran, either staying or we now assume going. Chia is in goal with Baggers back on the bench. We have a settled back 4 of Marisa, Moeka, Manuala and Charlie. The midfield is made up of Miasie, Jelena and Nadine. It’s the usual front 3 of Rosa, Kiko and Madie. On the bench is new signing, Norwegian midfielder, Oleug Tvedten.
The big shock with City is that they have signed Delphine Cascerino. She’s not here today but what an addition. It’s nice that Nikita (bench) and Poppy (starting) get a good welcome back to the Broadfield. That goodwill will last until kick off then the gloves are off. Kosovo Asllani starts with Freya Godfrey and extremely tall goal scoring talent, Izzy Goodwin.
There is a round of applause for Rado. It’s a difficult one to predict but it’s a big game for the Seagulls so we expect a big performance. It’s not a huge crow, just 1990. We’re more disappointed that Scooter hasn’t joined us today. It’s a small away following with only about 50 in the away end. Possibly the smallest we’ve seen. We hope those 50 are very disappointed in 90 minutes. Time to find out. Lets go Brighton, lets go!
Off we go..
It’s a lively start for the Seagulls. They dominate but Rosa can’t beat the offside trap and gets caught twice. She finally gets through but shoots over on 7. The Albion should be in a clear lead but it’s just not happening.
The Albion go off the boil after 10 lively minutes. It’s dull for a while but until Roasa gets in another shot. This time it’s blocked. It comes to life on 23 as Madie plays in Kiko on the right. She does what she does best and blasts it home. 1-0.⚽
Rosa is inspired and back on the attack. Her first shot is saved. The next one blocked. Then she is caught offside again. She needs to be more clinical with these chances.
It’s half an hour gone when City break but are caught offside. They don’t wait long to try again. The cross in from the right is met by Moeka whose attempted clearance ends up in the back of Chia’s net. The visitors have equalised without a shot on target yet. 1-1.
The Seagulls keep their heads up. Madie gets a shot in but hits the right post. Into 2 added minutes and Nadine takes her turn but hits the left post. Anywhere but in the net!
The visitors get one last attack and Freya Godfrey is given too much space. She hits a great shot from the edge of the box. Their first shot on target and Chia is picking it out of the net again. Albion are behind at the break. 1-2.
Not long into the second half and City get their first corner. They haven’t had much possession at Seagulls end until now. There may have been cheering 📣 when Poppy puts it straight into the side netting.
It’s a bit end to end now. Kiko misses to the right. Back down the other end and Jana Fernandez does the same.
We are shocked, shocked I say, that we get as far as the 64th minute before Poppy is penalised for a foul.
It’s scrappy for a while but Rosa manages to miss again.
The Albion make their first 2 changes on 71. Charlie Rule makes way for Rachel McLauchlan. Rosa is replaced by new signing Olaug Tvedten. Not going to try to pronounce that. Can’t wait until she gets a nickname.
Madie is injured on 72 and needs treatment. She is soon fixed and back in the action. It’s end to end again. Izzy Goodin sees her shot blocked. Nadine with assistance from Kiko has her shot blocked. Madie assists her next chance but that’s also blocked. The Seagulls are throwing everything at the defence in the City penalty area.
Nadine makes way for Carla on 86. A bit late for fresh legs up front. We hope she has enough time to make a difference.
Brighton are piling on the pressure now. Marisa and Oleug both have shots blocked. The Seagulls get a corner. Maisie misses a sitter from the middle of the goal. Madie’s shot is blocked and it’s another corner. And another. Just score a goal please.
There are 4 minutes of injury time to play. Plenty of time for an equaliser. Another Albion corner. It leads to a shot from Oleug that goes just wide. There is another corner. Jelena gets the first Seagulls booking on 93. Three more minutes without another corner and it’s all over on 90+6. 1-2. How did we lose that?!?
We think it’s all over
That’s not how we hoped it would go. It had it’s moments but there were large chunks that weren’t great. The aggression of the first 10 minutes dried up quickly and didn’t re-appear until after the subs made an appearance near the end. To lose 2-1 to a team that only managed 1 shot on target must be absolutely gutting. That’s efficient for you. Chia has had to pick the ball out of the net twice without the chance to make a save.The Seagulls need to learn that lesson. Sooo many misses or tame shots. It could and should have been out of sight in 5 minutes. But it has been a difficult week for the team with the loss of Rado so maybe the performance means more than the result in the circumstances.
There was no change in the league table because Villa lost as well. The “best of the rest” title is looking like a big stretch at the moment. Elsewhere in the league. Chelsea dropped to 3rd after a thrashing by Man City. Arsenal were busy winning the Club Cup Final. We planned to go but that didn’t work out. Congrats to the Gunners who won 3-2 with a Foord winner against Brazil’s Corinthians in extra time. 👏
Up next, we will be travelling to Kent for Tranmere’s outing at the Priestfield. Lord help us🙏.
The Other Bits:
POTM: goes to Rosa 🏅 who had her best game in terms of chances. Her conversion rate could do with improving but hopefully that will come as her confidence improves. Can’t fault her effort today though, well done Rosa.
Officially Opinionated: The ref missed 2 good penalty shouts and the lino had a great view of both but bottled it 🐔. Either or both might have been outside the box but both were certainly fouls yet waved away. Not wanting make waves by halting the rise of Michelle Kang’s Vanity Project 😃.
The Scran’O’meter changed the usual pizza and latte routine today and went for some chips with curry sauce and a hot chocolate. Both excellent. 9.5/10 and 9/10. Thanks.
Programme perusal: The programme is digital which we don’t do so it may well have been fantastic but if it’s not made of paper, we don’t want it. 0/10 again.
See you in Kent.
Love Tranmerekat 🐾
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| Our Chia warming up |
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| Floodlights at midday 👀 |
