Brighton beat Aston Villa in thriller as both sides see red

Brighton defeated Aston Villa 4-2 on an eventful afternoon at Broadfield Stadium to claim their second Women’s Super League victory of the season.

Brighton led 2-1 at half-time through Nikita Parris’ first goal for Brighton and a second from Pauline Bremer after Rachel Daly had opened the scoring for Villa.

Daly levelled with a penalty but Fran Kirby also scored from the spot after Paula Tomas was sent off and Michelle Agyemang made sure of the points despite Brighton also having Poppy Pattinson dismissed.

Parris was handed her first league start following her move from Manchester United while Villa’s Jordan Nobbs made her 193rd WSL appearance, setting a new record.

The game burst into life with two goals in little over a minute, first Daly tucking away Kirsty Hanson’s cross at the near post in the 13th minute.

Brighton hit straight back with a similar goal, Maria Thorisdottir sending in a deep cross that was hooked across goal by Pattinson for Parris to stab in.

Parris then turned provider in the 38th minute, with Villa giving their opponents too much time and the England forward playing the ball through for Bremer, who swept her shot left-footed into the far corner.

Villa pushed for an equaliser and they found it 10 minutes after the break, Guro Bergsvand penalised for a poor challenge on Anna Patten and Daly confidently dispatching the penalty.

Referee Ryan Atkin then pointed to the spot again with 11 minutes left after Tomas barged into Kiko Seike with her shoulder, a challenge deemed worthy of a straight red card, and Kirby made no mistake.

Sophie Baggaley had to be alert to keep Brighton ahead, tipping over a fierce long-range effort from Lucy Staniforth.

Seike should have made the game safe but fired over from very close range, and Brighton were also reduced to 10 players early in 10 minutes of stoppage time after Pattinson was shown a second yellow card.

Villa, who remain winless in the league, pushed forward but they were caught out again at the other end, Jelena Cankovic finding teenage Arsenal loanee Agyemang, who struck a fine shot into the far corner for her first Brighton goal.