West Ham were held to a goalless draw at the Chigwell Construction Stadium by a resistant Brighton & Hove Albion side on Easter Sunday.

Rehanne Skinner’s Hammers had the better of the chances but a fantastic afternoon’s work from Albion keeper Sophie Baggaley earned Brighton a worthy point.

It became apparent early on that Brighton were struggling to deal with West Ham’s high press, and they were caught out within the first 20 minutes.

Emma Harries was quick to shut down Jorelyn Carabali inside the six-yard box and forced a block-turned-shot trickling past Baggaley’s near post.

The first meaningful shot on target came 30 minutes into the game in the shape of West Ham’s Emma Snerle, who attempted the find the top right corner from a yard inside the box, but her shot never placed the keeper under any threat.

This was the first of a flurry of good chances for the Hammers just before half-time.

Again, Brighton lost possession deep in their own half, gifting West Ham another golden opportunity to snatch the lead.

Anouk Denton, high and wide in space on the right, spotted the run of Riko Ueki at the far post and delivered a perfect cross to the West Ham forward, who somehow headed wide despite looking certain to score.

Minutes later Snerle tested Baggaley again, with another right-footed effort intended for the far-right corner, which similarly failed to break the Albion keeper into a sweat.

After failing to break the deadlock in the first half, West Ham came out with a point to prove but they were cruelly denied a spectacular opener from Honoka Hayashi by a truly world-class save from Baggaley on the hour mark.

Hayashi played a one-two with Viviane Asseyi on the edge of the box and upon retrieving the ball, sent a stunning volley goalward which seemed destined for the top left corner, only for the fingertips of the keeper to thwart her.

Brighton responded almost instantly on the counter.

Katie Robinson was allowed time and space in the box to lay the ball to Madison Haley, whose low curling shot had half of the stadium convinced of an opener, yet the net once again failed to ripple.

With the game truly opening up, West Ham spurned yet another chance to take what would have been a deserved lead in the tie through Asseyi on 68 minutes.

The 30-year-old was found free as a bird at the back stick by a deep diagonal ball, but despite sending the keeper the wrong way, her header bounced agonisingly past the post.

A silky nutmeg on defender Shelina Zadorsky from Robinson inside West Ham’s penalty area, deserved a goal to finish off the move. Yet, she was let down by her teammate's limp attempt after latching onto her cutback.

With time running out, West Ham hoped to nick the win with a late shot from outside the box by Jess Ziu, but unfortunately for the Hammers, her effort flew once again into the safe palms of Baggaley as the full-time whistle blew.

The point sees West Ham move temporarily seven points clear of relegation rivals Bristol City and allows Brighton to leapfrog Leicester City into eighth place.

Whilst Brighton will undoubtedly see this as a point gained, Skinner’s side really should have walked away with all three.