The midfielder cut inside from the left and curled a perfectly-placed shot inside the far post nine minutes before the break for what turned out to be the only goal of a highly-competitive league stage tie.
Indeed, both teams squandered big opportunities either side of Holdt’s breakthrough, but in the end we were deserved winners at Crawley’s Broadfield Stadium as our unbeaten start to the season continued.
After an uneventful start, Brighton forward Emily Murphy was presented with a golden chance to fire her side in front on 12 minutes after latching onto a cross from the lively Kiko Seike but miscued her effort wide at the near post in a massive let-off for us. Victoria Pelova was then played through on goal by Holdt at the other end just seconds later but couldn’t get the ball out from under her feet after rounding goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie and ended up laying it off for Holdt, whose strike from outside the box was deflected behind.
Suddenly it was all-action, Selma Panengstuen saving Seike’s low shot before Shekiera Martinez pushed forward for us but fired over the bar. The Seagulls spurned another big chance on 35 minutes when Emilie Joramo’s free-kick went all the way through for Maisie Symonds but she could only hook the ball over the top from eight yards out. However, within a minute we were ahead as Pelova sent Holdt away down the left, the midfielder cutting inside onto her right foot before curling superbly inside the far upright. It could have got even better for us a few minutes later, but Matilda Vinberg’s clinical low finish was chalked off for offside.
The teams again traded chances in the early stages of the second half, Martinez’s right-footed curler seeming destined to ripple the net until Nnadozie produced a flying save away to her left to tip it behind while Joramo’s volley in our box was sharply held by Panengstuen. Holdt arrowed another good strike just beyond the top corner before substitute Kirsty Hanson hit the crossbar with a shot from a tight angle after an initial brilliant, determined piece of play down the right a quarter-of-an-hour from time.
Brighton didn’t relent in their efforts to find a way back into the tie and had loud appeals for a penalty waved away in the last action of the game after Martinez’s challenge on Olaug Tvedten, the final whistle instead sounding to leave us on four points in the table after last week’s goalless draw and subsequent penalty shootout loss at home to West Ham United.
Line-ups
Brighton & Hove Albion (4-3-3): Nnadozie, Peskett, Vanegas, Auee (Mpome 56), Hayes, Symonds (c) (Walti 74), Joramo (Tvedten 86), Garcia, Seiki, Rayner (Cankovic 56), Murphy (Kirby 74). Substitutes (not used): Heeps, George, Loeck, Olislagers.
Spurs (4-2-3-1): Panengstuen, Morris, Koga, Sombath (Dijkstra 76), A Nilden (Blakstad 46), Summanen (c), Gaupset (Spence 64), Vinberg, Pelova (Ahtinen 56), Holdt (Hanson 64), Martinez. Substitutes (not used): Kop, Tandberg, M Nilden, Wijk.
Match data
Goal: Spurs – Holdt 36.
Yellow card: Brighton – Auee 20.
Referee: Stacey Pearson.
Venue: Broadfield Stadium, Crawley.
Weather: Rain, light winds, 16 degrees.
Attendance: 620.