England star Lauren Hemp played a lead role as Albion were beaten by WSL title-chasing Manchester City.

Hemp scored the first goal, made the second and impressed throughout as City won 4-1 at Broadfield Stadium in the WSL.

A stoppage-time goal by Lee Guem-min from Veatriki Sarri’s cross was reward for the home team’s unceasing efforts and delighted most of a crowd of 3,490.

But City showed all their qualities against an Albion outfit who worked hard to stem the tide and were well-organised but never really looked like grabbing a goal until their late flurry.

A win by six goals would have taken City top of the table and much of the second half was a defensive test for the home side with Guro Bergsvand standing out amid the resistance.

It was not an afternoon without positives.

Interim Albion boss Mikey Harris said: “We had really positive spells but we weren’t able to sustain them for long enough and that is what we have got to look to improve as a group.

“I felt relatively comfortable, as comfortable as you can against Man City, for the first 25 minutes or so up to the first goal.

“But we know they have got quality to punish you in these moments and that is what happened.

“It was tough from that moment on but credit to the players.

“I thought they kept going right until the end and you saw that with the goal we scored.

“I thought we finished the game quite well.”

Albion have been developing into more of a possession-based team under Harris but City are some way ahead of them in that process.

The visitors duly dominated with the Seagulls having to work hard to close spaces.

They did so in a formation which looked very much like 4-4-2 with Madison Haley joining Elisabeth Terland up front.

There was a hint of a chance when Vicky Losada’s free-kick into the box was headed by Alex Greenwood against Bergsvand but the ball ran away from the Albion player before she could get in a shot.

But it was just as the home side and their fans seemed to be growing in belief that City went ahead in the 27th minute.

Jess Park guided a pass which might have taken a flick off Losada as it sent Hemp away to left of goal and her shot, on the stretch, found a way through Sophie Baggaley’s attempt to block.

That settled City and they almost added a second when Greenwood’s header from a corner was cleared off the line by Julia Zigiotti. Baggaley was beaten on that occasion but did well soon after to parry a drive from Kerstin Casparij as she moved her feet quickly and dived to her right.

City doubled their lead five minutes from the break as Hemp swapped passes with Laura Coombes and crossed towards the far post, where Mary Fowler was in behind Emma Kullberg to finish.

Albion made quite an assured start to the second half but Hemp offered another indication of her England quality with a curler against the far post after turning away from Li Mengwen, who had replaced the injured Maria Thorisdottir at the break.

Jorelyn Carabali looked fortunate to concede only a free-kick when she shoved over Bunny Shaw but replays showed referee Megan Wilson’s judgement was spot on and Greenwood saw her subsequent set-piece, from inches outside the penalty area, pushed way by Baggaley.

Shaw, though, headed home midway through the half when she rose above a couple of defenders to meet a Yui Hasegawa cross at the far post.

While substitute Maisie Symonds helped Albion enjoy a brighter spell after that, City showed their high class again as Coombes added the fourth after Fowler had been beautifully played to the byline.

Symonds was at the origin of the late reply, a clever free-kick giving Terland the chance to release Sarri for the cross from the left which Lee finished sharply.

Albion’s substitutions included the introduction of Grace McEwen, who became their youngest WSL player.

Albion: Baggaley; Carabali (McEwen 83), Thorisdottir (Mengwen 45), Bergsvand, Kullberg, Losada (Symonds 60), Zigiotti, Haley (Lee 60), Pinto (Sarri 80), Robinson, Terland. Subs not used: Johnson, Startup, Dent.