Goals from Ella Toone, Alessia Russo and substitute Jane Ross fire the Red Devils to their second league win in three games.
Manchester United began the match with American duo Tobin Heath and Christen Press on the bench, while Brighton were forced to leave Rebekah Stott out of the starting line up due to a nagging injury.
Both teams would press high up the pitch throughout the half, leading to a frenetic pace that rarely let up, aside from the considerable amount of injury stoppages for both sides.
Injuries being a recurring issue for Brighton this season, the aforementioned knock to Stott and new signing Katie Robinson already ruled out for the season with an ACL injury.
United would be gifted the opening goal as Brighton keeper Megan Walsh’s clearance would drop straight to Kirsty Hanson, which directly led to a cross to Alessia Russo, who was brought down in the box by Maya Le Tissier.
Ella Toone would calmly slot the ball into the bottom right corner from the spot kick to give her side the lead in the eighth minute in her fiftieth appearance for the Red Devils.
The Seagulls were much more alert after going behind, being able to get in the way of the majority of United’s chances.
The visitors did not have the same success on the other end of the field however, as multiple wayward passes led to many of Brighton’s attacks fizzling out.
Brighton’s best chance would come on the stroke of halftime as a scramble in the box would fall to Megan Connolly, who slipped while volleying the ball, and could only watch as it soared over from inside six yards.
United would squander a chance to double their lead early in the second half. Leah Galton was played one-on-one with Megan Walsh, who was able to save with her foot to stop Galton’s effort from finding the far post.
Manchester United would dominate the second half and put their impressive offensive arsenal on display for the rest of the WSL. Alessia Russo, making her first start for the red side of Manchester, would skip past a tackle and finish an impressive run at the near post to give the hosts their second.
She would, however, be immediately substituted for debutant Tobin Heath, one of four attacking substitutions United would make across the half, also bringing on Christen Press, Jane Ross and Lucy Staniforth.
The two U.S internationals would make an immediate impact as Heath would play a ball across the face of the Brighton goal to Leah Galton, who was again denied by an impressive save from Walsh. Christen Press would be gifted with a similar opportunity, Hayley Ladd playing a similar pass across for Press who could only strike the inside of the post.
Brighton never looked threatening in the second half and their first loss of the season was all but confirmed in the ninetieth minute when Heath crossed the ball deep into the box, where it was met by the head of Jane Ross to seal a 3-0 win for United.
The win takes United onto seven points from three games and will serve to put more pressure on the top three as the Red Devils continue to try to break into title contention.
United and Brighton’s next fixtures pit them against the two North London clubs in the WSL as the Red Devils travel to Tottenham on the 10th and the Seagulls attempt to bounce back when they host Arsenal on the 11th.
The Inbound Observer 