Brighton thrashed by Champions League-chasing Spurs

Spurs continued their push for Champions League places with a dominant 4-0 win over Brighton at The Hive.

Kyah Simon put them into an early lead after she lofted past Megan Walsh, before three goals in seven secondhalf minutes overwhelmed the visitors. Ashleigh Neville doubled Spurs’ lead, before Shelina Zadorsky and Simon struck twice in 60 seconds, bothfromcloserange,tocomplete an excellent afternoon for Rehanne Skinner’s side.

Strongwindsinthecapital made for difficult conditions, leading to a scrappy opening 45 minutes.

And capitalising on the gusty weather, Molly Bartrip’s ball over the top had the Brighton defence caught between two minds, goalkeeper Walsh unable to judge the flight of the ball.

Simon took full advantage of Walsh’s hesitation, smartly lobbing her to put Spurs ahead.

Struggling for any sort of fluency, Brighton were fortunate not to be two down when Rachel Williams’ perfectly-placed header from a corner cannoned back off the crossbar.

Ria Percival and the industrious Eveliina Summanen then combined to produce an opening for the Finnish international, who could only drag her effort wide – but it was a different story after the interval as Spurs quickly put the game to bed. Percival delivered a sumptuous, arched ball in behind the Brighton back four, finding Neville on the run. The substitute produced a brilliant, composed finish to double her side’s advantage.

Captain Shelina Zadorsky then tapped home after a goalmouth scramble, Simon lashing home at the far post a minutelatertocompleteadifficult day for the south coast side.

To follow the action and sign up for The FA Player’s live Barclays FA Women’s Super

League coverage visit womenscompetitions.thefa.com Brighton and Hove Albion manager Hope Powell said: “There’s disappointment, naturally. It was a really tough day today and they know they can and should do better than they did.

“It felt like we had quite a bit of ball possession, certainly in the latter stages, but we didn’t create much, if anything. So, really, really disappointing, and in the manner we conceded as well.”