Women’s Under-21s suffer Brighton defeat | OneFootball

A strong first half performance from our Women's Under-21s failed to reap any reward as Brighton & Hove Albion ran out 3-1 winners in the Professional Game Academy League on Wednesday afternoon.

Having suffered an early setback in the game, where May Balmer fired the Seagulls into the lead inside 60 seconds, we controlled large spells of the first 45 minutes and created plenty of good chances but when Persis Oteng failed to convert from the penalty spot midway through the first half, it just felt like one of those days in front of goal.

Olivia Johnson doubled their advantage eight minutes after the break and, after we found ourselves down to nine players in the closing stages due to injuries, Johnson grabbed her second of the afternoon to secure the three points for the visitors despite Jhanaie Pierre netting a late goal in injury time.

It took Brighton just under a minute to take the lead as Balmer spotted Erin Radbourne off her line and lobbed her from around 30 yards out. Pierre saw two free-kicks from the edge of the box, on each side, safely gathered by Silvana Marshall-Miranda as we responded well after falling behind.

Then, on 25 minutes, we were awarded a penalty after Kendra Brown was brought down inside the box and Oteng stepped up to take the spot-kick, but she sent her effort wide. We were inches away from finding the equaliser minutes later as Pierre’s curling free-kick from the right-hand side looped over the goalkeeper before being cleared off the line at the far post.

Brown had a golden opportunity four minutes after the break as Miranda’s wayward pass fell straight to the midfielder inside the box, but the goalkeeper reacted quickly to push the midfielder’s attempted effort away and, shortly after that, the visitors grabbed their second as Johnson rose highest to meet a cross from the right to head home from close-range.

Ruby Gaitley was introduced in the final quarter of the game, with the midfielder making her first appearance of the season after recovering from injury, before Nick Hardy’s side found themselves down to nine players in the closing stages as Lucy Barraclough and Beatrice Cunnison were both forced off with injuries – having used all our substitutions prior to that.

Unsurprisingly the visitors were able to capitalise on the two-player advantage and extended their advantage with four minutes left on the clock as Johnson fired home her second of the game. However, we continued to put in a spirited performance and grabbed a goal back in the final minutes of the game, Pierre reacting quickest to slot home from inside the box after Oteng’s low cross was spilled by the goalkeeper.

"We come away from the game thinking what could have been"

Reflecting on the game, Hardy said: “In terms of what we saw out there, the effort, the endeavour, the focus, there were pleasing parts of the performance and, ultimately, we come away from the game thinking what could have been. I thought there were some periods of control and I think that makes it a difficult one to digest, because the girls have pretty much delivered what we worked on and what we have asked from them.

"Obviously, a missed penalty in the first half would probably have given us a springboard, but I don’t think that was the only moment, there was a lot of final third entries and service from wide areas. We went down to nine players due to a couple of injuries and having used our substitutions a little bit earlier, which is a bit of misfortune, but it was an example of how hard the girls were pushing themselves, to be able to compete, go toe-to-toe and also score is an incredible reflection. In summary, it’s a lot about ‘what if’ but there are some really good moments to take away and, as we continue to build in this development model, you can’t really ask for much more in large portions of the game.”