The hosts produced a near complete performance at the Academy Stadium, where they controlled the game from start to finish and were seamless at both ends of the pitch.
City had five different goalscorers against the Seagulls and conceded few chances in a performance which was an emphatic reaction to the 2-1 loss at Kingsmeadow seven days ago and Cushing was delighted with his players’ efforts.
“I’ve said in the six seasons I’ve been here that losing is really difficult,” he said.
“It hurts and it’s frustrating, but the only way you deal with it is to win the next game.
“If you start to lose games back to back or you start to draw after a loss, then it starts to affect confidence and your chance of winning trophies.
“To win and score five and keep a clean sheet, it’s almost the perfect game for us.”
That City impressed across the whole 90 minutes against Hope Powell’s side was a testament to the players’ professionalism as we were virtually out of sight by half-time.
Steph Houghton put us ahead after two minutes, with Ellen White and Lauren Hemp ensuring we were three goals to the good before the 40-minute mark in a first half where Ellie Roebuck wasn’t required to make a save.
The boss was full of praise for the intensity of City’s performance in the opening period, which he felt was the catalyst for taking all three points.
“I thought we won the game in the first 15 minutes,” he added.
“I thought we started lively. The intensity was excellent. We pushed them back. With and without the ball we forced them into errors.
“We thought Brighton would sit in and try and counter-attack but they pushed really high and tried to press us.
“Getting the goal early and then getting the second changed the game for them and settled us down.
“I thought it was a really clinical performance in that 20 minutes.”
