Albion suffered injury-time heartbreak tonight as Manchester United scored in the 98th minute to make it end 2-2 at Broadfield Stadium.
Skipper Guro Bergsvand looked to have secured all three points for Brighton when she headed home from close range from Veatriki Sarri’s corner in the 89th minute, but United struck back with a corner of their own in the eighth minute of injury time through substitute Rachel Williams to break Albion hearts.
Top scorer Elisabeth Terland made it the dream start for Albion as she converted her sixth goal of the season in the 30th minute when Julia Olme’s pass found her unmarked in the United penalty area. Terland continued her fine form in front of goal and finished emphatically, giving Mary Earps no chance.
Sophie Baggaley was called into action on several occasions throughout the night as United grew into the game and showed why Melissa Phillips trusted her in goal tonight over Nicky Evrard. Her positioning, footwork, and shot-stopping was outstanding throughout; but most notably, her quick reaction save from Melvine Malard’s shot early on, and a superb double save from a corner just before half-time, which kept Brighton in front, earned her a well-deserved player of the match.
It was clear it would take something special to beat her, and United’s Ella Toone came up with just that. Leah Galton dispossessed Jorelyn Carabli, which controversially wasn’t given as a foul, and found Toone on the edge of the box who took it on the turn and struck it sweetly to find the top corner of Baggaley’s goal.
Despite leading twice and conceding late on, Albion manager, Melissa Phillips said she was: “very proud of everyone; it was a very good performance against a very good team.” She continued to say: “It’s disappointing to concede at the end but at the same time it’s a point against a very, very good team. We will look to build from this performance going into next week.”
United boss, Marc Skinner, on the other hand, said: “We are not happy with a point. We need to take three points. You create that amount of chances you have got to take them.”
Despite the disappointment of losing two points in the last minute, Brighton will hope to continue their promising performances when they travel to second-place Manchester City next weekend.
