Manchester City won 3-0 against Brighton and Hove Albion at the Academy stadium on a bitterly cold and windy to stay top of the FA Super League by a single point.
In an odd way, it felt like a good result for Brighton. In the two meetings between the sides, this season City has scored more than their fair share. The reverse fixture in October saw City win 6-0. only a fortnight before this game it was a 7-1 home win for City in the fog.
It looked like a familiar pattern was emerging in the second minute as City won a penalty that Nikita Parris calmly converted.
City were content to pass the ball around amount the defence in the opening stages and it was with their first foray into the Brighton half that created the penalty. Lauren Hempstead was allowed too much space and breezed in the area (sic) before being bundled over by the 16-year-old Ellie Hack.
Chances for Brighton were few and far between in the first half as City were dominant for much of the first 45 minutes.
Brighton's best chance came in the 23rd minute as Felicity Gibbons found herself behind the City defence and fired the sort of cross that strikers dream about; Ellie Brazil unchallenged on the edge of the six-yard box met it head on only to see Karen Bardsley clutch onto the shot with relief.
It was soon business as usual as City went about finding the next goal. It came in the 31st Gemma Bonner was quickest to react to a corner that was not clear with enough conviction.
Marie Hourihan the Brighton keeper injured her ankle in the melee and was replaced by Sophie Harris. Hourihan did join the bench tracksuited and booted in the second half.
Harris was tasked with keeping the City sharpshooters for the best part of an hour. She made a string of good saves including a shot from range by second-half substitute Georgina Stanway.
The Brighton keeper did, however, picked the ball out of the net as Parris added her second goal of the game just before half-time; again, it was a corner that was Brighton’s undoing and Parris with a close-range header made the score 3-0.
Brighton regrouped at half-time and the introduction of Ini Umotong gave the Brighton defence welcome rest bite as they had someone that looked as if they could worry the City defence.
Umotong was unlucky not to have scored on the hour as lost her defender was clear through only for Bardsley to make the save.
Brighton held their own after the break and City could not find a way through; with five in midfield, the spaces that City were passing through in the first half were no longer there.
Both teams will be happy with how they performed after the international break while the 1279 supporters in the stands will be happy to eventually defrost.
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