Brighton & Hove Albion women’s first-team manager Hope Powell was delighted to end the season on a high following the 4-0 FA Women’s Super League victory against West Ham United this afternoon.
Powell highlighted the tactics she deployed, and also believed that the Hammers' recent FA Cup Final exploits may have played to her team’s advantage.
She said, “It was our attitude; we played a little bit higher up, playing 4-4-2, and tried to put them on the back foot. We appreciate that they have had a really good season, getting to Wembley, and maybe that took a little bit out of them and we capitalised on that today.
“I would say it has been a successful season. Our aim was to stay in this league, and to finish above Everton isn’t something that we would have expected. For us, we have exceeded our expectations and I’m very, very delighted with our effort, we played well and we got the win.”
The Seagulls secured a ninth place finish in the league with the result, but Powell warned that they must still keep working hard to retain their top-flight status again next season.
“It’s taken time for the players to transition to full time and it’s been tough for them, but as the season has gone on they have started to understand the demands of the league.
“Today we got with it, got up to pace and understood how we needed to play. There is still a lot of work for them to do but I am delighted for them. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed our season and more importantly we’re staying in this league.
“We know that we have a lot of work to do as we are still a way off. We still need the players to adapt more to this league and perform more consistently at a higher standard. We want to keep improving year on year, so there is a lot of work for us to do in the summer.
“Hopefully we’ll have a good pre-season and bring in some additions to make the squad stronger and we can go from there. We know that everyone will do the same so we’ve got to perform better than we have this season to stay in this league.”