Fran Kirby secures narrow win for Brighton in a five-goal thriller with West Ham
Brighton and Hove Albion Women bounced back to winning ways after beating West Ham United Women 3-2 at the Amex to remain third place in the Women’s Super League.
Rachel McLaughlan and Kiko Seike put Brighton two goals ahead before Katrina Gorry’s brace levelled the game, but Fran Kirby netted the winner for Albion.
This fixture kicked off the first-ever round of WSL and Women’s Championship games all taking place at clubs’ main stadiums in the same weekend.
The Seagulls responded to their 5-0 defeat to Arsenal, while West Ham United Women couldn’t build on their first league win against Leicester City, leaving them ninth in the league.
Albion’s fifth win of the season has already equalled last season’s tally, reflecting the excellent job Dario Vidosic has done since his arrival.
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There were few quality chances during the early stages until Nikita Parris forced a save from United’s Kinga Szemik after 20 minutes.
Kirby executed a delicious backheeled flick after half an hour to set McLaughlin through on goal, who finished cooly to score her first Brighton goal.
Vicky Losada produced an almost identical backheel into Kirby, who couldn’t convert on the stroke of half-time.
Seraina Piubel should have equalised for the Hammers just before the hour mark after her shot sailed over the bar from close range.
Albion responded immediately as Seike rolled the ball into the bottom corner to put the Seagulls two goals up.
We didn’t have to wait long for another goal, as Gorry smashed the ball into the top corner to make it 2-1, with the crossbar still rattling from her strike moments before.
Gorry tenaciously won the ball back in midfield five minutes later and equalised with another sensational long-range finish after a driving run.
The midfielder’s afternoon was cut short however after appearing to dislocate her shoulder and looked to be in some discomfort exiting the pitch.
West Ham lost their momentum after this substitution and Brighton capitalised, regaining the lead in the 82nd minute after a tidy finish from Kirby.

What the managers said
Vidosic on Brighton’s response after a heavy defeat to Arsenal:
“I thought it was a fantastic response after the last game.
“We knew it was a big weekend, with all the games being played in big stadiums and it’s a fixture that we look forward to whenever we know that we’re at home with our fans.”
The adaptability of his players in light of injuries:
“A few players were on limited minutes, like Jelena [Cankovic], and a few others also on the bench, Pauline [Bremer], Bex [Rayner], all on limited minutes after their rehabilitation.
“Michelle [Agyemang] also hasn’t played for a couple of weeks [due to] being blocked from playing last weekend, so we had to use a couple of other players leading into that to get them ready for that game.
“We had a couple of injuries as well, and only had one centre-back in the squad, all the others are currently injured.
“Really happy with Maisie [Symond’s] performance as well, she had a crash course, a day and a half on how to play centre-back.”

His positive start to life in the WSL:
“If you attribute it to anyone, it’s the players; they’re the ones that win the games.
“I came in with an idea of the way we wanted to play and they all bought into that idea, they work really, really hard towards it.”
Rehanne Skinner on West Ham’s spirited second half performance:
“I’m really, I’m really proud of the players and pleased with everything they’ve put in today and we’ve showed great character to come back from two nil down, and we’re the better team in the second half in front of goal.
“We had some great chances, unfortunately,we’ve not taken them at the moment when we could have capitalized on the game and made life really difficult for Brighton.
“Conceding the last goal is obviously a massive blow and I think we deserve something out of the game.
“So overall, I think there’s a lot of positives to take out the performance, but disappointing that we’ve not got any points.”
Gorry’s injury status:
“She needs to get a more thorough medical assessment, so we’ll need to get a scan to understand the full sort of context of it.”

Missed chances:
“We’ve been getting into the final third much more frequently in every game we played since the international break restarted, and the opportunities, the shots that we’ve had have been higher.
“The box entries have been higher, all of our attacking players have been really positive, and so I think that it’ll come and ultimately, those chances we’re creating, that’s the most important thing.
“Next time around, those chances go in, it completely changes the game, so we’ll just keep doing what we’re doing.
”I’m pleased with the fact that we got into those positions, and that’s important, so we just need to keep plugging away at that.”