Brighton Women 3-0 West Ham United Women: Symonds, Kirby and Seike seal comfortable home win
Brighton Women put in one of their best performances of the season to see off West Ham United Women 3-0 at the American Express Stadium, a result that lifts the mood at the Amex after a mixed run of results in the Women's Super League.
The breakthrough came in the 29th minute when Maisie Symonds struck a superb right-footed volley from outside the box into the top corner to give the hosts the lead. West Ham battled on but couldn't find a way back level before the break, and Brighton doubled their advantage early in the second half when Fran Kirby turned home from close range in the 63rd minute. Just three minutes later it was three, as Kiko Seike finished from the centre of the box after being teed up by Emilie Joramo, putting the game firmly out of West Ham's reach.
There was a nervy spell either side of half-time with injury delays for both Chiamaka Nnadozie of Brighton and West Ham's Kelly Gago, as well as a knock for Brighton's Jelena Cankovic, but all were able to continue or be replaced without further drama. The only booking of the afternoon came for Brighton's Olivia Garcia, shown yellow for a foul just after the hour mark. Brighton made full use of their bench too, with Marit Auée, Emily Murphy, Olaug Tvedten, Sophie Peskett and Bex Rayner all getting minutes as the game wound down, while West Ham brought on Leila Wandeler, Seraina Piubel, Ffion Morgan and Ebony Salmon in search of a way back in.
The numbers tell their own story of home dominance. West Ham actually edged the shot count 13 to 9, but could only muster two efforts on target compared to Brighton's four, with Chiamaka Nnadozie needed for just a couple of saves in the end. Brighton also won eight corners to West Ham's two, underlining how much of the game was played in the away side's half.
This win takes Brighton up to 8 points from seven games, sitting 8th in the table, while West Ham remain down in 12th on 6 points having now lost five of their last seven WSL fixtures. In terms of form, Brighton's last five WSL outings now read DLWLW, a nice response after the disappointment of losing to Manchester City in their previous fixture. West Ham, by contrast, head back to London on the back of a run that reads LLLWL, with defeats proving far more frequent than victories of late.
A good day all round on the South Coast, then, with goals from three different players, a clean sheet at the back, and a performance that should give the home fans plenty of confidence heading into the next round of fixtures.
Written with the help of AI, using the match facts and the headlines from the publishers credited above. Each point links to the original report — tap the source name to read it in full.
