Brighton & Hove Albion 4-1 West Ham United women's team
Barclays Women's Super League, Broadfield Stadium, Sunday 21 September 2025, 12noon BST
Despite a resilient second-half display, West Ham United women’s team fell to a 4-1 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion in the Barclays Women’s Super League on Sunday.
The Seagulls had a two-goal lead at the break after goals from Caitlin Hayes and Kiko Seike, but Viviane Asseyi was on hand to halve the deficit from the spot after Ffion Morgan was tackled to the ground in the penalty area.
Rehanne Skinner’s side pushed for a leveller after finding a way back into the game, but the game was soon put beyond them after a well-placed strike from Rosa Kafaji and an 86th-minute Marisa Olislagers goal.
Before kick-off, both teams observed a minute’s silence in memory of former West Ham manager Matt Beard, who sadly passed away over the weekend.
The Hammers then got the game underway and enjoyed a bright opening ten minutes in Crawley, with Shekiera Martinez heading wide from Asseyi’s corner before our No20’s instinctive shot was well blocked by Hayes.
But the best chance of the first half soon fell the way of the home side as Michelle Agyemang - and the rest of Broadfield Stadium - couldn’t believe she hadn’t broken the deadlock. After she saw an initial header saved by Kinga Szemik, Agyemang, from two yards out, hit the rebound straight at our No1.
However, Brighton were soon celebrating as Hayes rose highest from Fran Kirby’s corner and sent a towering header into the far corner to give her side a 23rd-minute lead.
Building on the opener, Brighton almost had a second when Maisie Symonds struck the bar with a terrific strike from range, but they did find the net again soon after through Seike, who played a one-two with Kafaji before firing into the bottom-left corner.
The pressure from the home side continued, with Agyemang heading at Szemik from Seike’s delivery before the end of the first half.
Skinner made three changes at half-time, sending on Inès Belloumou, Manuela Paví and Morgan, and the latter was involved straight away to help the Hammers halve the deficit.
Receiving a ball over the top from Katrina Gorry, our No23 showed her pace to burst into the box, where she was brought down by Brighton goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie. Referee Grace Lowe pointed to the spot, and Asseyi remained composed from 12 yards, sending the Nigeria international the wrong way to bring us back into the contest.
Forward we came again, down the left through Belloumou and Asseyi, and our No20 cannoned a strike from inside the box that looked destined for the back of the net, had Hayes not put her body on the line to block the effort.
Unfortunately for the Hammers, in their first attack of the second half, Brighton restored their two-goal lead through a curling effort from Kafaji, leaving Szemik no chance as the ball nestled into the top-right corner.
It was almost a quick-fire double for Kafaji, who headed narrowly wide from Symonds’ right-wing cross moments later.
The Hammers’ heads didn’t drop, though, and we almost found a second of the afternoon when Riko Ueki’s header was cleared off the line by Agyemang, and then Morgan saw two close-range efforts blocked in quick succession.
Brighton substitute Carla Camacho Carrillo then had a shot from inside the box held by Szemik before Anouk Denton was in the right place to clear away Seike’s teasing low cross.
Brighton’s No11 then went close to finding her second of the afternoon with a low effort that bounced off the post, which came just before Olislagers found the top-right corner with a curling strike from the edge of the box.
Brighton & Hove Albion: Nnadozie, Minami, Kafaji (Camacho 72), Symonds © (Noordam 71), Agyemang, Čanković, Seike (Heron 91), Kirby (Tsunoda 88), Hayes, Olislagers, Rule (Auée 88)
Subs not used: Baggaley (GK), Carabalí, Rayner, Warren
Goals: Hayes 23, Seike 35, Kafaji 58, Olislagers 86
Booked: Symonds
West Ham United: Szemik, Denton (Endo 77), Zadorsky, Nyström, Hanshaw (Belloumou 46), Gorry ©, Siren (Brasero 83), Csiki (Paví 46), Asseyi, Martinez (Morgan 46), Ueki
Subs not used: Walsh (GK), Tysiak, Wandeler, Piubel
Goal: Asseyi 51
Referee: Grace Lowe
Attendance: 1,810
Skinner: I think the scoreline's a little bit tough to take
Manager Rehanne Skinner was pleased with the impact her substitutes made at Broadfield Stadium against Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday afternoon, but admitted her side didn’t do enough to warrant taking points from the WSL clash.
After falling two goals down at half-time, Inès Belloumou, Manuela Paví and Ffion Morgan were all introduced at the start of the second half and made an instant difference, with Wales international Morgan winning a penalty five minutes after the restart that Viviane Asseyi duly dispatched.
However, two second-half goals from the hosts secured them the three points.
Skinner insisted her side will learn from Sunday’s loss and look to bounce back in our first Subway® Women's League Cup match of the season at Charlton Athletic on Wednesday night.
In the first half we weren't good enough.
At the end of the day, if we're not going to fight for all of our one-versus-one battles and stick to the gameplan, then it's always going to cause us a problem.
We allowed the game to get too transitional again. So there are a lot of lessons to be learnt from that first half. Just as a squad, that's not the way we set out to go about the game, and so we can't be doing that moving forward.
I think big credit goes to the substitutes.
I thought they completely changed the game. The energy [they brought], they did the bits we knew would cause them problems, which then obviously got us in the box and forced Brighton to defend. We were unfortunate not to turn a couple of those [chances] into goals.
I think the scoreline's a little bit tough to take, but at the same time, we didn't create enough to warrant getting anything out of the game. We have to accept that, and we need to be better at moving on.
We have a competitive squad.
Everybody's got to deliver on their roles, and there are plenty of people that are looking for opportunities. That's something that this week is going to be really important for us as a team because we need to do well on Wednesday night, and then we're preparing for Chelsea at the weekend.
Sometimes we all have to have a little look at where we are, and we've got to make sure that what we're delivering is the right thing for the team. I think that's going to be the biggest thing going into these next two games, that we do all of the individual bits that are going to help us to be successful - and when we do that, we'll win games and we'll get points.
Wednesday night is an opportunity for us to see more people, [get players] more minutes and make the team even more in a fight for the shirts coming round to Chelsea.
That's obviously what squad depth is for, and I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of those players play on Wednesday night.
Asseyi: We will bounce back
Striker Viviane Asseyi vowed West Ham United women's team will keep fighting for the Club and the fans to put recent results right.
The Hammers fell to a 4-1 Barclays Women’s Super League defeat at Brighton & Albion on Sunday afternoon, as our wait for a first win of the campaign goes on.
Asseyi’s first goal of the season halved the deficit at Broadfield Stadium on 51 minutes after first half goals from Caitlin Hayes and Kiko Seike had Brighton ahead at the break, but further strikes from Rosa Kafaji and Marisa Olislagers did the damage to set the seal on a result that wasn't a fair reflection of the players' performance.
While cutting a frustrated figure, our No20 fronted up to provide her analysis of what had gone wrong on the day and said the Hammers must draw from the reserves of togetherness and resolve which have laid the foundation for our success in recent years.
“It's a difficult one,” said Asseyi.
“I think you can see that by the score, because we worked hard all the time at training to be better on the weekend. Today again, it's not working, but we never give up, and we will take the positives of the second half.
“The girls who came in gave really a lot of energy, and we will take that for Wednesday [against Charlton Athletic] and the next league game.
“The game is 90 minutes plus additional time, and the message [from Rehanne Skinner] is the same all of the time. We knew that even if it was 2-0 at half-time, we could do it, we could come back in the game, and like I said, the girls really did it well. They gave us energy, but it wasn't good enough in the end.
“This is football, and for me, we are in the best league in the world. So each of us has to be better every day, and if you see the score is 4-1, it means that it wasn't good enough, so we'll have time to work on it, to reflect.
"We'll keep working, and I apologise for the fans, because we gave everything, but it wasn't good enough. We'll come back.”
