Brighton 2-1 Tottenham: Seagulls end Spurs 100% start to Women's Super League season
- Published
Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur: Seagulls end Spurs' 100% record
Brighton ended Tottenham's perfect start to the Women's Super League season with a scrappy victory.
Lee Geum-min beat Rebecca Spencer with a coolly-taken low finish to give the Seagulls a deserved half-time lead.
Spurs striker Rachel Williams was sent off for for a second yellow card before Victoria Williams added a second for Brighton in the closing stages.
Kit Graham immediately hit back, but Spurs, who had won their opening four games, could not find an equaliser.
They had started the day as joint WSL leaders, but end it three behind north London rivals Arsenal, who beat Everton in Sunday's later game. Brighton move up to fifth, three points adrift of Chelsea and Spurs.
Prior to kick-off, both sets of players joined arms in solidarity with players in the US who have made sexual misconduct allegations against English coach Paul Riley, which he has denied.
In a bitty first-half of few chances, Lee produced the breakthrough just minutes after Inessa Kaagman hit the bar.
Danielle Carter also hit the woodwork after the break for Hope Powell's Seagulls.
Spurs rarely threatened in response and their hopes of keeping their 100% start to the WSL season intact were made more difficult when Williams was dismissed after being cautioned for a second time for a reckless challenge on Felicity Gibbons.
From a corner soon after, Brighton's Williams poked home to make it 2-0 in the 86th minute and they hung on for victory after Graham pulled one back just moments after the restart.