West Ham Secure Dominant 3-1 Victory Over Brighton and Hove Albion.

Sunday 16th February seen West Ham United take on Brighton in an electrifying WSL clash which showed the home side dominate the scoreline in a 3-1 win.

A fixture that could only be described as a tale of two keepers, both respective goalkeepers governed the game and pulled out a range of showstopping saves to keep their team in with a chance of winning.

The game kicked off at 3pm at the Chigwell Construction Stadium in Dagenham. Heading into this fixture both teams had been struggling in form, with the visitors sitting in 5th and the home side in 9th place in the league table. Brighton now find themselves on a 6 game winless run after a short lived flying start to the season, with their last WSL win beingagainst West Ham in November’s reverse fixture.

Both teams started off on the attacking front with excellent instinctive responses from the two keepers in the opening ten minutes to deny either side a goal. However, the scoreline was soon broke with a close-range finish from Martinez set up through an excellent cross from Asseyi placing the home side in front in the 11th minute. This lead was brief, with Brighton immediately pressing in the final third and Parris tappinghome for the visitors just 3 minutes later, earning the recently recalled Lionesses player her 99th goal involvement in the WSL.

Brighton were lucky to keep the scoreline level after strong attempts on goal aimed at Loeck, who executed a number of crucial stops. The majority of the first half was a thrilling end- to-end battle, with both goalkeepers largely to thank for keeping each side in the game and balanced at the half time whistle.

West Ham started the second half on the front foot and weredenied a string of chances to go ahead with shots hit wide, however in the 64th minute their lead was gift wrapped for them with shabby defensive work from the Seagulls grantingUeki a deserved goal. This goal advantage was soon doubled for West Ham following a penalty conversion from Asseyiafter she was tugged down in the box by McLauchlan. The French forward confidently slotted home in the bottom left corner, giving the Hammers their third and final goal just shy of the 70-minute mark.

Both sides continued to battle to the end of what proved to be a very entertaining game of football, and regardless of a quicktriple substitution for the visitors following the third goal for the home side, they failed to convert their chances to take points from this game. Despite having just 33% possession, the scoreline reflected a confident 90 minutes from West Ham in just their fourth league win of the season, earning them a deserved and much needed 3 points. West Ham now move up to 8th place and Brighton still sit in 5th, just one point ahead of 6th place Tottenham.

Lineups:

West Ham United: K Szemik (GK), S Zadorsky, E Nyström, K Smith, V Hanshaw, K Gorry ©, V Asseyi, S Martinez, O Siren, M Paví, R Ueki

Substitutes used: S Piubel, D Brynjarsdóttir, E Harries

Brighton & Hove Albion: M Loeck (GK), C Hayes, G Bergsvand, P Pattinson, J Cankovic, R McLauchlan, N Noordam, V Losada ©, M Haley, N Parris, K Seike

Substitutes used: J Carabalí, F Kirby, D Stefanovic, B Rayner, P Bremer

Referee: Stacey Pearson