Brighton Draw with Villa 1-1 Despite Intense Attacking Efforts at the Amex

After a winless opening two WSL matches for both Brighton and Hove Albion and Aston Villa, both teams came to the AMEX on Sunday with a determination to climb up from the bottom half of the table. Last season in the WSL, Brighton and Villa encountered each other on opening weekend, ending in a 0-0 draw, and Aston Villa then clinched a 2-1 win with a second-half comeback when they faced again in January. 

The two sides headed into the game on a near even keel, with one point each on the table. After a first half goal by Gabby George, and a last-minute wondergoal straight from a corner by Lynn Wilms, the teams ended their meeting at a stalemate, despite a vast gap in attacking attempts. Although Brighton had 25 shots compared to Villa’s two, the points were shared evenly between the teams as the Seagulls struggled to convert their attacking momentum into something more clinical.

Starting XIs

Brighton: Chiamaka Nnadozie (GK), Manuela Vanegas, Gabby George, Maisie Symonds ©, Madison Haley, Kiko Seike, Lia Wälti, Fran Kirby, Caitlin Hayes, Marisa Olislagers, Emily Murphy

Substitutes - Melina Loeck, Marit Auée, Emilie Gay, Rebecca Rayner, Jelena Čanković, Emilie Joramo, Sophie Peskett, Olaug Tvedten, Olivia Garcia

Aston Villa: Akane Okuma (GK), Mathilde Harviken, Anna Patten ©, Maya Hijikata, Lynn Wilms, Lucy Parker, Noelle Maritz, Chasity Grant, Lily Murphy, Amalie Vangsgaard, Lucia Kendall

Substitutes - Emily Ramsey, Soffia Kelly, Oceane Deslandes, Katie Scott, Miriael Taylor, Justine Kielland, Mia McAulay, Georgia Mullett

Match Report

At the start of the game, it was Brighton who dominated possession, keeping themselves in the opposing half and pushing relentlessly towards the goal, whilst Villa struggled to push them back out of possession. When Villa did fight back, Brighton didn’t take long to dispossess them, with Madison Haley making a clean and impressive tackle in the seventh minute to regain the ball. Brighton’s pushing earnt them a corner in the seventh minute, taken by Lia Wälti, which forced Villa Goalkeeper Okuma into a hasty save in an effort to get the ball out of the box.

Gaps in Villa’s passing seemed to leave their attack behind, as the ball was given away to Madison Haley, a continual thorn in Villa’s back-line. However, it was Vaegar who gave Brighton their first shot on target in the 12th minute, which rolled into Okuma’s arms. Haley then almost scored in the 15th minute but was blocked by Wilms, and Villa took the opportunity to more substantially go on the counter. Caitlin Hayes cleared a dangerous pass to Vangsgaard, not taking any chances with the new signing and Danish international who scored against Manchester City for Aston Villa last week. Villa were gradually starting to gain some attacking momentum, getting closer to the goal and retaining more possession, but Brighton were still the commanding force on the pitch with Vanegar making a powerful effort from range, which sailed over the crossbar.

After Madison Haley forced Lynn Wilms into yet another block, Brighton were awarded a corner, and the Seagulls’ goal finally came. Gaby George got the ball over the line in the 31st minute after a scramble in the box and Okuma making an initial save, putting Brighton 1-0 up.

Villa looked keen to strike back after Brighton’s goal, getting quickly into the opposing half and close to the goal, but still not getting a shot away as but Brighton also not did look not any less urgent in their attempts, not settling for parking the bus until half-time at all, but rather seeming confident in their ability to keep scoring. Kirby was fouled, and Brighton were awarded a free kick in a dangerous position, where Kirby’s shot landed agonisingly close after Okuma made a vital save, giving Brighton another corner.

Suddenly, Vangsgaard was pacing it up the pitch towards Brighton’s goal, making Chiamka Nnadozie come out of the box, who tackled the ball from Villa’s number 20 with ease in one of her first real tests of the game in the 40th minute. At this point, Villa were coming into the game much more, often Murphy blocked Wilms outside of the box, who almost gave Villa their first shot until the ball was taken from her. Eventually, Wilms did manage to make the first effort for the team, repeating her attempt to shoot from outside of the box, which was blocked shortly before the half-time whistle blew.

Half-Time Score: 1- 0 to Brighton

The game seemed to be becoming more even after half-time, as Villa’s attacking attempts earned them their first corner before the flag went up for offside as Nnadozie tipped the ball over the bar. Villa kept themselves in the opposing box for a much longer spell this time, but seemed to struggle to get beyond sideways movement and press forward to threaten Brighton’s goal. Their more successful attempts at keeping possession lead them to a long pass chased down by Lily Murphy, but it was Nnadozie who just got to the ball first.

Olaug Tvetden and Garcia were substituted in for Emily Murphy and Marisa Olislagers in the 56th minute, as Brighton looked to keep their attack refreshed and alive against Villa’s slightly stronger momentum. The ball was nearly back in Villa’s line after a scramble and a shot from Madison Haley was collected by Okuma to get Villa out of a precarious situation. It was then Villa’s turn to make substitutions, with Mia McAulay and Justine Kielland coming on to try and keep them in the game.

Brighton were awarded another corner in the 63rd minute, this time taken by Fran Kirby, whose cross found Hijikata’s head who cleared the ball before it found itself over the backline again for another Brighton corner, where shots from Haley and Tvetden forced Villa to block. The Brighton side seen now were certainly the same side from right at the start, dangerous in set pieces, and also relentlessly in open play as Madison Haley missed an excruciating close shot from the centre of the box, much to the Brighton bench’s dismay. Shortly afterwards, Brighton managed to get themselves yet another corner, but Kirby’s cross sailed too far towards the right of the goal to threaten it.

Okuma was forced out of her goal as Haley made a sprint towards the ball as it thundered down the pitch, but the Villa keeper managed to get to it first shortly before her side made a series of three substitutions, bringing Georgia Mullett, Oceane Deslandes, and Miri Taylor on in place of Hijikata, Grant and Kendall in the 70th minute. Okuma was brought back into action in the 72nd minute as new signing Olivia Garcia made a close shot from the left.

Seike’s run up the left side of the pitch in the 75th minute led to a blocked cross, and another corner from Brighton which culminated in the same result. Kirby was also taken off for Jelena Čanković in this time. Madison Haley made an excellent through pass to Garcia in the 78th minute, who outpaced Villa’s defence made her second shot since coming on, but Okuma made yet another save and collected the ball. By this point, it was a wonder that Brighton had not scored again, as they kept putting shots away whilst Villa failed to register another after Wilms’ effort before half-time. A foul by Maritz on Madison Haley gave Brighton another free kick in a dangerous place, taken by Manuela Vanegas and again saved by Okuma, who was being kept incredibly busy.

Villa then found themselves down the pitch in the opposing half after Okuma’s goal kick, where their attempts to push earned them a corner, where Lynn Wilms finally got the ball in the net in the 89th minute, straight from the corner as both her and the entire team’s second shot on goal earned them a goal and put them level with the Seagulls. Although it might have only been their second, Wilms made an incredible effort, even if it was an attempted cross she surely didn’t mind as she managed to claw back a point for a team in spectacular fashion. Brighton’s goal scorer Gabby George was then taken off for Bex Rayner, and Brighton attempted to use their free kick to put them back up, but Čanković’s shot ended up just over the bar, leaving the two teams level as the full-time whistle blew.

Full-time score: 1-1

Antonio Ruiz on looking at the positives despite the ‘disconnect’ between shots and goals scored:

“I completely agree that there are way more positive things in the three games that we have played than negative, but the thing is that we need that time. I explain it after not scoring the 2 nil, you need to be very clear on pressing, avoiding set pieces, and if there is one, because this is football, you need to be very strong and feel super confident because, you know, you deserve it [..] it’s all about scoring more goals than the right one, and we didn’t do it today”.

“Yesterday, I went to bed really excited about, let’s do what the boys did yesterday, let’s get three points. That’s the reason that it’s very disappointing because from the 125th anniversary of the club, it will be an amazing weekend. We couldn’t give the three points, but I don’t know, I am also balanced about the message that we are doing a lot of positive things and we are building an incredible thing together, but we only need time. We only need to be better and better each day and each game and it’s been so good playing here (at the Amex) and I’ve enjoyed it a lot.”.

Natalia Arroyo on a ‘hard game’ for Villa:

“We couldn’t find ourselves really comfortable, we wanted to force them to some areas, some passes where we could hunt on them and bite. We couldn’t find the right timing and they were pushing us a little bit down on the pitch and that affected then how much we could counter attack or how much we could find our moments in possession. I think we find some kind of control, we couldn’t break them enough, the timing on the passing, on the movement wasn’t good enough”.

“This is the type of game where a point sounds like something extra, because we were so close to not getting anything, so positive about the point, a lot of this to improve to be closer to win in this league”.