Jake Smith looks ahead to the Blues' opening Women's League Cup with Brighton at Westleigh Park.
The WSL side make the trip across the South Coast this Wednesday (September 24th) evening for a 7pm kick-off at the home of Havant & Waterlooville FC.
Jay Sadler's side claimed victory in their last outing, beating Sheffield United by a goal to nil at Fratton Park to get their WSL 2 campaign up and running, thanks to Meg Hornby's first half free kick deceiving everyone in The Blades box and finding itself in the back of the net.
That result lifted Pompey out of the relegation zone and up into 9th, in turn putting Sheffield United into the bottom 2.
Attention now, however, turns to the Subway Women's League Cup, a competition Portsmouth were dumped out of in the Group Stages last season following a trilogy of defeats to West Ham United, Southampton and London City Lionesses.
In 2025/26, the Blues have been grouped with tonight's visitors Brighton, rivals Southampton (again), Charlton Athletic and top flight outfit West Ham United (again).
The Seagulls are managed by former Australian men's international Dario Vidošić, who took charge of the side last July.
Since arriving, the Yugoslavia-born ex-attacking midfielder has accrued a win percentage of 37.93 from 29 competitive games in charge and led the club to a 5th placed finish in the WSL last season, the highest position Brighton & Hove Albion have ever achieved in women's football.
Whilst it is not yet clear on how strong a side Vidošić will put out at Westleigh Park, the Brighton team is made up of big name players such as Nigerian goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie, who was ranked the world's 4th best shot-stopper at Monday's Ballon d'Or celebrations in Paris, former Chelsea and England star Fran Kirby and current Lionesses hotshot Michelle Agyemang.
The 19-year-old made a huge impact and scored some important goals during England's charge to a second straight EUROs title in Switzerland this year and, as a result, was named the Young Player of the Tournament. She re-joined The Seagulls on a season-long loan from Champions League holders Arsenal in the summer and was nominated for the women's Kopa Trophy at this year's Ballon d'Or, ranking 4th in the final votes.
Brighton currently occupy 6th in the WSL after picking up 4 points from their opening 4 matches of the campaign, collecting their first win as recently as Sunday afternoon, when they comfortably dispatched West Ham United by 4 goals to 1 at Crawley Town's Broadfield Stadium - Caitlin Hayes, Kiko Seike, Rusul Kafaji and Marisa Olislagers all on target.
Tickets for this evening's game can be bought in advance on the Portsmouth FC e-ticketing site and it is advised to purchase in advance to avoid queues at the turnstiles.
Jake Smith will be back with the next episode of The Football Hour from 6pm on Friday the 26th of September to review this match and look ahead to the weekend's SkyBet Championship and Barclays WSL 2 action!
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