West Ham Women 0 Brighton and Hove Albion Women 2
It took Brighton all of two minutes to net the first goal of the game as Aileen Whelan sent Albion on their way to picking up three points at the Chigwell Construction Stadium.
A free-flowing move found Inessa Kaagman, who laid it on a plate for Whelan to make it 1-0.
Brighton manager Hope Powell had been forced to make a couple of changes to the starting XI who were beaten 3-0 by Arsenal last time out, with Megan Walsh, Kayleigh Green and Dani Bowman absent due to illness.
Katie Startup was handed a debut in goal in place of Walsh, and the 23-year-old did well to keep West Ham at bay.
Brighton started the game on the front foot, suffocating West Ham high up the pitch and dominating for large periods.
Startup was isolated for most of the first half with Brighton dominant but was called into action on 29 minutes to collect a threatening low cross with West Ham waiting to pounce.
Powell was forced into a change on 38 minutes with Ellie Brazil coming off. Lee Geum-min was called upon to replace Brazil, who had an enterprising start to the game.
Brighton carried their dominance into the second half with Megan Connolly rattling the bar, but West Ham took that as their cue to regain some momentum.
The Hammers’ top scorer Dagny Brynjarsdóttir did well to find her footing in the second half after seeing little of the ball in the opening 45 minutes.
The Iceland international fashioned a couple of half-chances and managed to have a few pops at goal herself, chances that Startup dealt with admirably.
With the game tilting in West Ham’s favour, Brighton turned up the intensity.
A mix-up between Hammers keeper Mackenzie Arnold and centre-back Grace Fisk made sure the ball fell to Inessa Kaagman, who duly obliged to double Albion’s lead in the 81st minute, racking up her third goal of the season.
Having picked up three points, Powell’s Brighton have now done the league double over West Ham, leapfrogging the Hammers into sixth place in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League table.
Albion are due to face high-flying Manchester United next, on Sunday 3 April, while West Ham go up against Manchester City on Saturday 2 April.
