The Reds claim a hard-fought victory over the Seagulls

Photo Credit: Liverpool FC

A chilly night in St. Helens proved to be a valiant effort from both sides to kick off the 2025 WSL campaign that ended in a 2-1 victory for Liverpool, putting them 6th in the table. The travelling Seagulls fans were left only with one goal to consolidate the loss.

Line-ups

The home side lined up in a 3-5-2 formation, with vice-captain Taylor Hinds leading the team, and a strong back line of Parry, Fisk and Silcock. Up front was young star Olivia Smith and Swedish striker Cornelia Kapocs. This match also saw the Liverpool debut of Sam Kerr, who is on loan from Bayern Munich and started the match.

The travelling seagulls were in a 3-4-2-1 formation, with captain Vicky Losada in the backline and Nikita Parris up front who scored the team's only goal of the game. The notable Kiko Seike also started for the side. The Japanese forward is having a cracking first season in the WSL.

The Game

A slow and steady first half seemed to be dominated by Liverpool, having a few early chances and an early corner, showing their efforts, however this was quickly conceded by Brighton’s Jorelyn Carabali, the visitors’ defence proving strong.

Liverpool’s first strike on target was from the right foot of Kapocs, however landed right into Brighton keeper Sophie Baggaley’s arms. A free kick was won by Jelena Cankovic in the defensive half, giving hope to the Brighton fans, yet nothing came of it.

Despite an injury in the first 20 minutes, Olivia Smith opened the scoreline with a powerful right footed shot, striding past the defenders, which was assisted by Fuka Nagano, the pair continuing to prove they work together seamlessly. Her pace that beat the Brighton players is certainly something special to watch.

The Reds’ Lucy Parry had been taken off at the half, being replaced by Scottish Jenna Clark who made some crucial clearances. The feisty affair continued in the second half, with home fans booing everytime Brighton’s Poppy Pattinson touched the ball, showing their disdain as she had not yet been carded.

Liverpool made substitutions around the 60th minute, bringing on young talent Mia Enderby as well as Leanne Kiernan and Marie Hobinger making her return after a short injury spell. The Austrian certainly made her mark on the game, already creating a big chance and having a shot on target that was comfortably saved by Baggaley.

The scoreline remained the same until the 66th minute, when a shot from ex-United player, Nikita Parris took a heavy deflection and landed in the back of the net, the Seagulls equal and the away fans happy to have witnessed some action.

However, in the later moments of the 1-1 game, a shot from Fisk found the feet of Carabali in Liverpool’s box, who’s attempted clearance sent the ball into the back of the net, much to the despair of the Seagulls. At this point in the game, it was unlikely that Brighton could repair this, however added injury time of 7 minutes meant they had a chance.

Unfortunately for Brighton, this was not the case and the Reds celebrated their first home win of the 2024/25 WSL season. It was a very tight matchwith both teams performing excellently.

Statistics

Despite the result, Brighton led possession with 54%, however Liverpool's 8 shots on targets as opposed to 5 helped them claim this victory. Furthermore, Liverpool had a total of 4 corners in this game as opposed to Brighton’s 1, although nothing was created out of these. The visitors committed 12 fouls in this game, clearly a tense fight for the three points, Liverpool committing just 5.

What’s next

Brighton and Hove Albion’s next WSL fixture will take place on Sunday 26th January, away to Manchester United who are currently fourth on the table. The Red Devils will be eager to gain a result over the Seagulls who are just behind them at fifth.

On this same day, Liverpool will travel to face Leicester City at the King Power Stadium who are currently 11th in the league, just 1 point away from the relegation zone.