Brighton 2-2 Leicester: Two late Elisabeth Terland goals rescue point for Seagulls

Elisabeth Terland scored two late goals as Brighton & Hove Albion recovered from 2-0 down to earn a draw against Leicester City and extend their winless Women’s Super League run to seven matches at Broadfield Stadium.

In-form Jutta Rantala curled in the second from near the penalty spot within 18 seconds of the restart.

But Brighton struck twice in the last eight minutes in a stirring comeback by Melissa Phillips’ side.

Top scorer Terland produced a composed finish and then nodded in Poppy Pattinson’s 88th-minute cross as the Seagulls avoided a third consecutive league defeat.

Terland, who had an early effort ruled out for offside and tested Foxes goalkeeper Janina Leitzig in both halves, could have made it a hat-trick during 11 minutes of added time when she shot narrowly wide.

Leicester looked comfortable after Rantala seized upon Sam Tierney’s perceptive pass to double the advantage they had established on the stroke of half-time through Petermann’s piledriver.

The Foxes’ best early chance came when a shot by substitute Courtney Nevin, who had been introduced after 12 minutes for the injured CJ Bott, was entertained behind by the alert Kullberg.

The result left Leicester seventh in the table, with Brighton two places behind and three points clear of bottom spot.

Albion are in action again next Sunday when they visit Aston Villa, while Leicester travel to Manchester United in the group stage of the League Cup on Thursday.

Terrific Terland is Seagulls’ savior

Leicester arrived at Brighton on the final day of last season with their WSL safety yet to be confirmed, and manager Willie Kirk described rescuing the club from relegation as his finest coaching achievement after they won to finish five points clear of the drop.

In a sign of their progress, a goal of the season contender from Petermann and lightning-quick start to the second half looked to have earned Kirk’s team another victory against opponents they had beaten without conceding on each of the previous three meetings.

Enter Terland’s heroics. A deft piece of control and measured finish gave Brighton’s boisterous backing band in Crawley cause for hope.

It turned to celebration when the Norway forward found the equalizer with a second goal in six minutes courtesy of an expert header.

Terland’s goals made her the WSL’s leading scorer with seven and took her to almost one every 90 minutes. Her shot accuracy of 64% is also well above two of the three players she moved a goal clear of, Manchester City’s Bunny Shaw and Chelsea striker Lauren James.

Brighton needed Terland to find her ruthless best form on a day when they had less than 34% of possession, and she has now scored seven of their 10 league goals this season – the largest share of any player in the competition.

Their winless run at home is an obvious worry, but their spirited response here and Terland’s reliability up front means Brighton will remain hopeful of avoiding another slog against relegation.

Boss Phillips had spoken of his ambition to reward the fans who followed his side to Crawley and supported them at the Amex Stadium in numbers during the early stages of an inconsistent campaign.

On this form, Terland alone is giving those supporters plenty to enjoy.