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Ceri Holland pounced on a turnover to give Liverpool the only goal of the match. She was also sent off late for a second yellow card.

Brighton 0 - 1 Liverpool

London City:
Liverpool: Holland 53’

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Pre-Match

The Liverpool FC Women enter the match with Brighton and Hove Albion in search of their first league win of 2024. The Reds have won twice this calendar year in FA Women’s Cup play, including a 2-0 win over London City last weekend, but have failed to register a win in their previous three WSL outings. Matt Beard will be hoping to take home all three points against a Brighton side sitting second from bottom on the league.

Liverpool have most of the squad available for the trip to the south coast. Teagan Micah is back from a concussion, but Rachael Laws retains the starting gloves. Jasmine Matthews continues as the left wing back with Taylor Hinds out with a long term injury. Up top, Beard elects to go with the tricky Melissa Lawley to partner with the aerial threat of Sophie Roman Haug.

First Half

Both sides are looking to employ an aggressive press early, but sharp passing out of the back on each side is keeping anyone from gaining much of an advantage. It will be hard to keep this early pace up.

Liverpool earn a corner in the 7th minute. Marie Höbinger puts a nice ball in to the head of Sophie Roman Haug, but it glances just wide of the post. Nice early chance from the Reds.

Now the Reds earn a free kick in a dangerous area when Fuka Nagano is pulled back just outside the D at the top of the Brighton box. Marie Höbinger takes aim at goal from the central location, but she strikes the ball off of the wall and the chance is left begging.

Liverpool gift Brighton a chance after a poor turnover by Nimah Fahey deep in her own half. She is loose with the ball and it ends up with Elisabeth Terland. The striker takes a low shot that flies past Rachael Laws and just clips the outside of the post on the way out for a goal kick.

The match is starting to pick up now, with Liverpool seeing the lions share of the chances. Melissa Lawley has the ball in the right channel and fires a deep cross in for Sophie Roman Haug. The Norwegian striker makes a sliding effort, but the ball has just too much on it for her to get to. Jasmine Matthews is there to recover the ball on the end line and plays it back into the center of the box for Marie Höbinger, but the midfielder’s shot is blocked just a yard short of the goal line.

After the flurry of chances, the match has settled down into a midfield struggle. Liverpool are getting the ball forward at times, but are being forced wide. They are struggling to get the forwards involved on a consistent basis.

The Reds earn a free kick on the left wing after Ceri Holland was fouled. Marie Höbinger drives a strong cross in from the set piece, and the ball ends up going through everyone before being caught under the crossbar by goalkeeper Sophie Baggaley.

A couple of late chances to wrap up the half. First Liverpool see another good set piece delivery from Marie Höbinger headed just wide of the far post by Sophie Roman Haug. Brighton move the ball quickly down the field from the resulting goal kick and Poppy Pattinson sees her effort from the left glance off the top of the crossbar.

That’ll do it for the first half. Both sides had a couple of decent chances, but neither team was able to open the scoring. Liverpool have had the slight edge, but Brighton have caused problems on the counter.

Second Half

An interesting turn of events to start the second half as the original center referee is forced to withdraw with a calf injury. Fourth referee Emily Heaslip steps in to take over. She is known for being quite free with her cards and some...unusual interpretations of the laws of the game.

Liverpool come out and create a couple of early chances. Jasmine Matthews gets the ball high up the pitch on the left side in the opening minute and puts a dangerous cross in. The ball is again caught just under the crossbar by Baggaley.

Just a few minutes later Marie Höbinger creates a shooting chance for Melissa Lawley. The striker sees her shot deflected by a defender, wrong-footing the goalkeeper. The deflection takes most of the pace off the ball, however, and Baggaley is able to recover and just get back to make the save.

GOAL LIVERPOOL!!! The Reds dialed up the press after a stoppage of play for an injury, Brighton play the ball back to the goalkeeper, and Baggaley tries to play a pass forward through the center of her own box. Ceri Holland reads the pass and steps in front of her mark to intercept the ball before burying her shot to give Liverpool the lead!

Grace Fisk becomes the first player to go into the book as she pulls a Brighton player back to stop a counter. Fisk is frustrated with the lack of cover behind her that put her in the position to take the professional foul.

Matt Beard makes his first substitutions of the match. Missy Bo Kearns comes on for Marie Höbinger while Leanne Kiernan enters for Melissa Lawley in a couple of like for like changes.

Brighton have had the ball for the vast majority of the time since Liverpool scored. Liverpool are struggling to clear the ball, and are turning it over to give the ball right back.

Ceri Holland is now shown a yellow card. It’s an extremely harsh one as there was no actual contact. Holland realized she was not going to get the ball and pulled out of the challenge, but the Brighton player threw herself down and the referee bought it.

Now Laws is absolutely clattered as she tries to claim the ball and the referee decides to swallow her whistle. Lip readers will be able to see that Laws has a few choice words for the referee after a couple of quite interesting decisions.

Liverpool make a couple more changes in an attempt to get some control over the game. Jenna Clark comes on from Niamh Fahey, who has struggled with pace at times. Yana Daniels also comes on for Jasmine Matthews.

The Reds are almost punished shortly after the changes for some very poor defending. Elisabeth Terland is allowed to play a dangerous cross in from the left, but the ball is thankfully just behind Katie Robinson, who was free in front of goal.

One last change for the Reds as Fuka Nagano is withdrawn for Sophie Lundgaard. Ceri Holland drops into a holding role.

Lundgaard looks like she should be awarded a penalty just moments after entering the match as she is body checked at the top of the box when she steps forward to try and play the ball. Again, the referee swallows her whistle.

Jenna Clark is forced to clear the ball from just in front of her own goal as Brighton are causing Liverpool all sorts of problems. Game is on a knife’s edge here.

Liverpool make a rare foray forward with the ball now with a very nice passage of play. Yana Daniels starts the move on the left, and the ball is played to the feet of Sophie Roman Haug on the left edge of the box. She smartly flicks the ball behind her plant leg for the run of Leanne Kiernan. The Irish striker drives the ball to the end line before unleashing a very good cross that is met by Emma Koivisto, but the Finnish wing back’s effort goes just wide of the far post.

Oh no, Ceri Holland has been sent off for a second yellow. She is just a half beat late for the ball and just nips the toe of the Brighton player. Emily Heaslip eagerly produces a second yellow and a red card to send off the Welsh midfielder late in the second half.

Leanne Kiernan does well to carry the ball down the left wing and hold off a defender. She earns a corner kick to give the Reds a slight respite. Missy Bo Kearns plays it short to Sophie Roman Haug, and the duo do well to hold the ball in the corner for a solid 15 seconds before earning a throw in.

Liverpool earn a series of throw ins on the right side of the pitch now as they do their best to see this match out. The clock has ticked past the 6 minutes of extra time, but the referee is keeping the match going.

The whistle for full time is finally blown in the 98th minute as the Reds are able to finish with the win.

Final Thoughts

Well that was certainly not one of the best performances of the season for Liverpool, but they did manage to sneak away with the win. As we’ve seen more than a few times, Liverpool struggled to generate many clear chances, and did not do enough to get the strikers involved in the match. The press caused a turnover for the goal, but Liverpool really struggled to keep hold of the ball after that, with Brighton knocking down the door but unable to break through.

Liverpool will have a couple of weeks before they play again as they hit an international break. The Reds will next be in action on March 3 when they head to Aston Villa.