West Ham United 4 Brighton and Hove Albion 5
Brighton and Hove Albion beat West Ham United 5-4 in the Women’s Super League in what turned out to be a nine-goal thriller at Chigwell this afternoon (Sunday 6 November).
Danielle Carter bagged a brace while Vea Sarri scored her first goal for Brighton and Elisabeth Terland and Jorja Fox also netted.
The trip to West Ham came on the back of an 8-0 drubbing at home to Tottenham Hotspur last weekend. And Albion went behind after just three minutes to a goal from Lisa Evans.
But interim manager Amy Merricks’s team hit back promptly with three goals in the space of 12 minutes.
Carter nabbed the equaliser in the eighth minute and turned provider for Sarri’s goal three minutes later.
Then Julia Zigiotti Olme was tripped in the box by Grace Fisk – and Carter stepped up to score from the spot with 20 minutes played, putting Brighton 3-1 in front.
In the second half Dagny Brynjarsdottir fired in a free kick just before the hour which Albion defender Victoria Williams deflected into the net to bring it back to 3-2.
Terland scored Brighton’s fourth from a corner in the 68th minute and substitute Fox had barely made it on to the pitch before slamming home a confident strike.
Despite Albion’s commanding 5-2 lead, the Irons proved resilient and refused to give up.
A couple of crosses from Evans – the first deflected – provided vital assists for Vivianne Asseyi in the final five minutes of normal time.
With the score at 5-4, the Hammers proved intent on chasing an equaliser but Albion clung on during seven long minutes of added time.
The hosts drop to eighth in the WSL table, with nine points from seven games. Brighton sit one spot below, with six points from their first six games of the season.
Their next match is at home to Liverpool at 2pm on Sunday 20 November at the Broadfield Stadium, in Crawley.
