Maya makes her Brighton bow
MAYA LE TISSIER has made a professional starting XI for the first time in her budding football career.
The Guernsey girl, 16, appeared in Brighton and Hove Albion WFC’s starting line-up in Wednesday night’s Women’s League Cup match against Crystal Palace LFC, which the Seagulls won 5-1 at their home ground at Broadfield Stadium in Crawley.
Her previous involvement in the No. 23 jersey was as an unused sub during their recent Women’s South League loss against the much-vaunted form side, Arsenal Women.
But she played every minute of the Crystal Palace match and made some useful tackles that contributed to her side’s victory.
Father Darren Le Tissier was rightfully pleased to see his daughter’s hard work paying off under the mentorship of former England Women’s coach Hope Powell.
‘She’s one of the youngest players, but it’s all for her hard work and dedication to training and moving to the UK at such a young age to fulfil her dreams and play professional, and as her dad and her family on the island, we are very proud,’ he said.
‘There’s a route where if you work hard enough and are good enough, you can fulfil your dreams but it takes a massive amount of dedication and sacrifices.
‘It takes one – the athlete – and two – Guernsey as a whole to provide funding and support – to make that happen, and as a family we are all grateful.’
The Brighton side are next in action against Chelsea in Sunday’s WSL game, but Darren is more confident of Maya making a second appearance in their next cup match against Yeovil the following weekend.
