Melissa Phillips was quick to sing Elisabeth Terland's praises after the striker wrote her name into Brighton's history books. 

Terland, 22, netted twice yesterday as the Seagulls beat Women's Super League rivals Bristol City 3-2 at the Broadfield Stadium. 

Those goals, the second of which came from the penalty spot in stoppage time, saw her overtake Aileen Whelan as the club's leading goalscorer in WSL history. 

And Phillips was delighted to see Terland take her overall league tally in Brighton colours to 16, with nine scored this season. 

Speaking to the club's official website, the beaming boss said: "Her impact on the team is immeasurable. 

"She's a fantastic professional, she is the hardest working and most competitive player in the squad but she's also the most humble.

"The key is her mindset. She is consistently searching for incremental gains in her game. 

"She is not shy of taking opportunities. It's great to see her impact on the pitch and in training sessions and the way she conducts herself as a professional."

Prior to the match-winning spot-kick, Brighton were twice pegged back by efforts from Abi Harrison and Carrie Jones after Terland's first-half strike and a second goal of the season by Katie Robinson early in the second period.

But Phillips, 36, believes her side fully deserved to pick up the three points to leave them sitting eighth in the table. 

She added: "It was a bit more dramatic than we'd have liked at the end. 

"We were in control and created some really good opportunities particularly early in the game. 

"We perhaps didn't get the ball into wide areas enough until late when we were searching for the winner and unfortunately set-pieces and the timing of them let Bristol back into the game a little bit too easily, which is something we have to be better at. 

"The most important thing is three points, which should give us a lot of confidence and there was a lot of quality in our performance."