Brighton & Hove Albion 0-1 Leicester City: Boss Kirk hails ‘fantastic’ Foxes

Leicester City manager Willie Kirk says keeping the Foxes in the Women’s Super League is the “biggest achievement” of his managerial career.

“The players and staff have been exceptional in terms of their openness to change, because we changed a hell of a lot,” said Kirk, who succeeded Lydia Bedford on 4 November.

“It’s fantastic and thoroughly deserved. We had a reset at Christmas. We’ve constantly been showing the players the table from 1 January. This is my biggest achievement.”

Remy Siemsen clipped a post with a close-range second-half shot and Carrie Jones and Hannah Cain spurned glorious chances for Leicester, who finished their campaign by leapfrogging Albion into 10th.

Brighton, who only eased their own relegation concerns with successive home wins following Melissa Phillips’ arrival as manager on 7 April, lacked ruthlessness but went closest when Elisabeth Terland’s clever flick trickled wide during the first half.

Kayleigh Green drove a fierce 25-yard shot wide on her final appearance for the Seagulls and England international Katie Robinson was a persistent threat on the right flank.

Chelsea’s title-clinching result against Reading meant that Leicester’s safety was guaranteed, while 11th-placed Brighton joined them in finishing two points behind Tottenham.

Leicester seal safety in style

Leicester could have secured safety with a game to spare at home to West Ham on Sunday – a measure of Kirk’s achievement following his appointment at the start of November.

His first two home games were a 4-0 defeat to Arsenal and an 8-0 thrashing by Chelsea. The first win of his reign only came on 15 January, beating Brighton 3-0 at home in the first of four victories in nine matches.

“We had a couple of friendlies which were really important – we won both, then beat Sunderland convincingly in the League Cup and Brighton in the league,” said Kirk.

“At that stage I thought, ‘we’re on the right road.’ The only doubt I had was when we lost 1-0 to Tottenham [on 15 March], because the players were so convinced they were going to win that the disappointment was huge. That was when I had to pick them up the most.”

With Reading 2-0 behind at Chelsea, Leicester were able to relax during the second half at Broadfield Stadium and deservedly took the lead through a moment that 17-year-old Baker will treasure.

Although it was against opponents with nothing to play for, the performance bodes well for Kirk’s ambitions to improve Leicester’s miserable record on their travels. This was only the third time in their 22 WSL away games in which Leicester have avoided defeat, losing 19 of those.

Brighton face more change

Phillips made a promising start to her tenure by leading Brighton clear of relegation danger, but the announcement during the week that five experienced players would be leaving suggested another summer of wholesale change.

Captain Megan Connolly, goalkeeper Megan Walsh, former skipper Victoria Williams, Kayleigh Green and four-cap England international Danielle Carter have all now played their final matches for the club and were rightly recognised in an emotional ceremony after this game.

Carter almost enjoyed the perfect end to her time at the club when Dejana Stefanovic set the forward up via some clever footwork as the clock ticked past 90 minutes, only for her shot to be blocked behind.

That attempt was as accurate as Brighton had been all afternoon. Chief among Phillips’ concerns after this display will be a lack of cutting edge to reward their industrious build-up play.

Robinson’s usual direct running worried Leicester from the start but proved fruitless during a first half when the hosts did not produce a shot on target.

It took until the 86th minute for that to change when Terland finally gave Janina Leitzig some work to do – but Albion were less dangerous during the second half and could have been further behind by then.