"When I first arrived there was a definitely a tension that had sunk in,” Melissa Phillips tells Mirror Football. "I guess it was natural to feel that upon being bottom of the league. We had been in the relegation battle, but this was the first time we were last."
It was April 7. Brighton were occupying the sole relegation spot, rock bottom of the WSL. With relegation rivals Leicester and Spurs having found a degree of form after managerial changes, things were looking bleak on the south coast. The time for excuses had ran out, they simply needed points on the board to maintain top flight status.
Only a few months earlier, new manager Phillips had surprisingly left London City Lionesses' promotion chase to become assistant coach at NWSL side Angel City, who are based in LA and co-owned by Hollywood star Natalie Portman. Now she was tasked with keeping Brighton in the top flight. The new Seagulls' boss hadn't even completed the move out of London by the time she was returning to the airport for a flight back.
