Our Women’s Under-19s fell to a 3-1 defeat against Brighton & Hove Albion in the Professional Game Academy League on Wednesday afternoon.
Despite a positive start from us, the visitors broke the deadlock inside the opening quarter-of-an-hour at Hotspur Way through Patience Fergus before they doubled their lead four minutes before the break as Evie Milner tapped home Taylor Warren’s free-kick.
The second period saw very few opportunities until the last 10 minutes of the contest when the Seagulls further extended their lead via Daisy-Mae Ball. Heidi Hills netted her first goal at PGA level for us, slotting home into an empty net to give us a late consolation before Lexi Whitey was dismissed after an off-the-ball incident as we looked for a quick restart. That result for our young side sees them suffer their first defeat in four games across all competitions.
Sabiha Jamal made six changes to the side that faced MK Dons at the weekend, including five first-years in the starting XI while two Under-16s – Aimee Bush and Whitey – were named in the matchday and amongst the substitutes.
We made a strong start at our Enfield training base as Grace Bellwood fired wide from outside the box before Jhanaie Pierre saw a free-kick tipped over the bar by Hannah Poulter and, from the following corner, Hills curled over the bar from the left area of the box after a short corner routine. However, at the other end, Sophie Jackson was called into action with a fine save, pushing Warren’s effort over the bar, but the visitors were able to convert from the resulting corner, Fergus getting the faintest of touch from an in-swinging corner to direct it into the back of the net.
Fergus thought she doubled her tally minutes later but her effort was ruled out for offside while Mia Endacott forced Poulter into two saves in quick succession after a lovely ball from Eloise Summers-Mee to pick out the forward inside the box. Tahirah Heron was then denied by Jackson, with our goalkeeper getting a strong hand to push her shot over from close range, but Brighton doubled their lead on 42 minutes when Milner tapped home from close range after Warren’s free-kick from outside the box on the left.
As we looked for a response after the break, we carved out a couple of opportunities early on, Summers-Mee heading over from Endacott’s corner before the former saw her curling right-footed strike pushed around the post by Poulter. Pierre then had an effort from distance gathered by the shot stopper before she curled over from the edge of the box as we continued to push for a way back into the game but, with six minutes left on the clock, Brighton added a third as Ball raced into the box following a good build-up play before her half-volley was just out of the grasps of Jackson.
Two minutes later, we managed to pull a goal back. A lovely ball over the top from Endacott set Hills through on goal and, after winning a 50/50 with the on-rushing Poulter, she was able to slot the ball home into the empty net for what was a consolation goal in the end. In the aftermath of the goal, we finished the game with 10 players after Whitey was shown a straight red card for an off-the-ball incident after Hills' goal.