Albion gave a good account of themselves in front of a record WSL crowd at the Broadfield Stadium before falling to a 2-0 defeat to Chelsea.
In front of 3626 noisy fans, Albion matched the champions for an hour before falling behind to Niamh Charles’ header.
Albion had chances to equalise with Katie Robinson and Elisabeth Terland both going close before substitute Pernille Harder made it safe for Chelsea with five minutes to go.
Despite the defeat, there were lots of positives from what was Albion’s best performance of the season so far.
Albion made two changes to the side beaten by Manchester United with Vea Sarri and Libby Bance coming in for Danielle Carter, who dropped to the bench, and Jorja Fox, ineligible to face her parent club.
The pitch was passed fit for play after three pitch inspections thanks to the efforts of Crawley Town’s groundstaff and Albion made a strong start, pressing Chelsea and using the pace of Robinson and Sarri down the flanks to stretch the visitors.
One burst down the right by Robinson was followed by a low ball into the box which Bance met with a well-struck shot that was blocked by Millie Bright.
It took the champions half an hour to seriously test Meg Walsh, but the Albion keeper made two good saves before the break when she blocked Charles’ effort from the angle of the six-yard box before tipping Beth England’s drive from 22 yards over the bar at full stretch.
Erin Cuthbert headed straight at Walsh from a corner and Albion were probably glad of the chance to regroup as Chelsea ended the half on top.
Albion had another scare two minutes into the second half when England turned the ball home after Jesse Fleming’s shot was parried by Walsh but she was offside.
The visitors had got on top and skipper Victoria Williams made a great block to deny England but it was by no means one-way traffic and Robinson couldn’t quite get enough venom in her shot after Ann-Katrin Berger failed to hold onto Sarri’s cross before Robinson teed up Terland on the edge of the box but her effort was blocked.
Chelsea broke the deadlock in the 58th minute when Charles’ looping header from a corner hit the underside of the bar. Poppy Pattinson tried to clear but the ball had crossed the line and England stabbed it home to make sure.
The hosts nearly equalised two minutes later from a corner of their own which dropped to Terland eight yards out and her effort was grabbed by Berger. Moments later Perisset rattled the bar with a shot from 20 yards.
Albion threatened again on 70 minutes when Robinson was on the end of a cross-field move and her shot skimmed into the side netting and they went even closer four minutes later. A move which started deep in our half by Emma Kullberg was continued by Julia Zigiotti and Geummin Lee, who played an outside of the boot pass into the path of Robinson. Berger saved her shot with an outstretched leg and Sarri was unable to convert at the far post.
Chelsea wrapped up the points with five minutes to go when Harder lashed a shot off the underside of the bar and into the far corner.
Albion: Walsh, Green, Williams ©, Kullberg, Pattinson, Bance (Park 80), Zigiotti, Sarri, Terland (Carter 70), Robinson, Lee. Unused subs: Startup, Park, Jarvis, Ferguson.
Attendance: 3626