Women’s Super League: Brighton push Liverpool close but are left empty-handed

An error under pressure from Brighton goalkeeper Sophie Baggaley in the early part of the second half ultimately secured the three points for the Reds. Baggaley’s pass out from the back was played into the path of Liverpool midfielder Ceri Holland, who seized upon the mistake and calmly curled her shot into the net.

Harris, put in charge after Melissa Phillips was sacked said: “We’re disappointed, I felt like we deserved something out of the game, particularly in the second half. We had a couple of big chances, a lot of momentum. Unfortunately today we weren’t able to make that count, and get the goal that would’ve got us something out of the game.

On Baggaley’s mistake which led to the goal: “It’s something that can happen when we play the way we do. I take full responsibility for that, it’s completely on me. It’s a mistake, we accept it and move forward.

“I think we’ve just got to keep building on the way we’re trying to play, our identity with and without the ball. I’ve been doing this job for two weeks so it’s not a huge amount of time. We’ve had four games during that, and from my perspective we’ve seen improvement in different areas in every game.

“We’ve got to keep working and striving to be better. We created some chances today, we’ve got to learn to take those chances as they’re big moments. I believe if we do that, then we’ll be very quickly looking up the table.”

Despite the game’s first action resulting in a header on goal for the Reds, the opening half hour of the match was to be one of very few promising chances for either side.

A long range effort from the in-form Albion striker Elisabeth Terland was the only notable chance for the home side, with the shot catching Liverpool goalkeeper, Rachael Laws, by surprise as it passed just wide of the bottom left corner.Throughout the first half Liverpool were certainly the dominant side, keeping possession for large spells.

A corner kick in the 44th minute from Liverpool’s Marie Høbinger allowed striker Sophie Román Haug to direct the cross toward goal, with her glancing header just inches wide of nestling into the bottom left corner. Just a minute later at the other end of the pitch, Albion’s defender Poppy Pattinson’s cross from the left flank clipped the top of the crossbar, very nearly opening the scoring with an unconventional ‘crot’.

Liverpool opened the second half just as brightly as they had done the first, with an early chance to break the deadlock. A shot from close range by forward Melissa Lawley took an awkward deflection off of Brighton defender Guro Bergsvand, making the save a little more difficult for Baggaley.

It was indeed Baggaley’s error which led to the goal as her pass out from the back, under pressure from the Liverpool press, was played right into the path of midfielder Holland.

Holland’s goal in the 54th minute was a sign of the successful change in Liverpool’s press from manager Matt Beard: what was a disjointed press in the first half had become a collective effort in the second.

This goal did not deflate the home side’s hopes, though, and instead gave them an incentive to increase their intent. The Albion crafted many attacks in the second half, with their most promising chance coming in the closing 10 minutes. A cross into the box found substitute striker Geum-min Lee at the far post, and her flick towards goal was volleyed just narrowly wide.

For all of Brighton’s determination to score in the second half, it looked as though Liverpool were going to double their lead and end the game as a contest when substitute forward Leanne Kiernan crossed a ball into the box toward Emma Koivisto. The midfielder’s strike on the stretch was shot over the crossbar though, causing a collective sigh of relief from the almost 3,000 strong crowd of Brighton fans.

In the third minute of the additional six, Liverpool’s goalscorer- and ultimately matchwinner- Holland was sent off after a second bookable offence on a Brighton player. A free-kick was awarded to the Albion, but was disappointingly played into the arms of a grateful Liverpool goalkeeper to conclude the match as a second consecutive loss for the Albion.

Following this defeat, Brighton remain 11th in the WSL table, with 11 points from 14 games. The Seagulls will travel on Sunday, March 3 to face Bristol City in their next match in the WSL, kick off at 2pm.

Brighton: Baggaley, Kullberg, Bergsvand, Thorisdottir, Pattinson, Robinson (Haley), Zigiotti, Losada C, Sarri (Bremer), Pinto (Lee), Terland.

Liverpool: Laws, Bonner, Fisk, Fahey C (Clark), Koivisto, Høbinger (Kearns), Nagano (Lundgaard), Holland, Matthews (Daniëls), Lawley (Kiernan), Román Haug.