BFC 0-2 Brighton & Hove Albion, Saturday 18th February 2017

‘If we knock 'art Knockaert....’

Grove Street school, soon to be R.I.P.

Just been looking at our results this season, and since beating Rovrum 4-0 we have won 3 and lost 7 at home.  Thank goodness for away games!  This week, it was Brighton’s turn to do us over, but what can you do, when you match them toe to toe and you get done with lethal finishing, the like of which we haven’t got?  To be honest, it looked like a nil-nil all the way to me, till someone (MacDonald?) lost his man, Baldock, who flicked it up and hammered it on the half volley over the keeper from 20 yards.  Class.  Their second goal wasn’t bad either, if you ignore the bit where Hamill loses it on the halfway line.  They broke down our right, Yiadom was bamboozled by Knockaert, and a simple inside ball was tapped home.  Game over.

The view from pitchside.

We rarely threatened however. Marley hit a couple of efforts on target, but, otherwise, the best we could come up with was Hamill, on as sub.  He blazed over within a minute of coming on, then hit a 20 yarder into the chest of the keeper.  Later, he dribbled round 3 players and fizzed one just over the bar with his left.  Oh, and the ref certainly missed a chance to put us ahead.  Their left back definitely handled it, his arm even came up to knock the ball in the air.  Good job the ref has a linesman to help him.  Do they EVER award penalties these days?
Oh well, we tried.

Moncur dragged off, thank Christ.

*** James.  Confident on the ball and defensively solid.  A couple of times he put his foot on the ball, dragged it back, turned, and put us on the attack.  The very opposite of what Moncur was doing (more on him later).  Twitter MOTM.
** Roberts.  Another one who had to up his game to make up for his partner.  
* Watkins.  Started out wide, before put in the middle once Bradshaw got the curly finger.  Had our best 2 shots. 

Londontykes' MOTM:1. James  2. Roberts  3. Watkins

The Ponty

Despatches:
Davies had nowt to do, but caught a few crosses and kicked accurately.  Caught off his line for their 1^st, but what keeper wouldn’t have been?  Yiadom and Jones didn’t get forward as much as I’d hoped, adding to the lack of supply from Moncur in centre-mid.  Beckenham Chris thought we were all a bit harsh on Moncur, but he seemed the 1^st person on the lips of the Londontykes, who all agreed he looks p*** poor.  (Mind, Chris was less supportive once he’d heard Moncur was of a biblical-bent).  Only seems to go backwards.  I thought he was an ATTACKING player?  He even TURNS towards his own goal, before giving the slide rule 10 yard square pass.  He’s like a s*** Mitch Ward.  (And the original wasn’t very good.)  Bradshaw was anonymous, and while I accept the one Hamill missed was from a range Bradshaw normally bags from, I’m not sure he’d have been there to miss it.  Mowatt looked lively as a sub, and I presume he’ll be in the team soon.  And there was nothing to suggest Scowen won’t walk straight back in either, once he’s fit.  Oh, and I nearly forgot Kent.  No wonder.  And I’m sure Armstrong was in the team too.  It’s just a pity we can’t blame our lack of attacking thrust on a team content to stay in their own half.  Brighton came for the victory and just had that little bit of extra quality.

The Albion 1400.  At least they had fun.

Drink du jour: 4 pints pre-match, Brooklyn and Erdinger.  Enough to have me dozing off a few times 1^st half.  Or was it the football?  Vodka and orange and/or bourbon and coke later.  The bourbon wot killed Charles Bukowski, I was reliably told.  We are made of sterner stuff, however.

Away: 1,396.  The Andies slated Brighton for their lack of turn out (top of the league and all) but I thought it was a decent amount.  Woulda been 1,397 if the bloke we met on the train hadn’t spent the afternoon in Chennells (true).  'Sh'nells' he promounced it.

The Damage:
21 travel

Programmes?  You must be joking.  Had sold out before any of us got there.

Match action.

Barnsley 0-0 Brighton & Hove Albion, Saturday 5th April 2014

“two to one, Stephen Dawson, three to one, Stephen Dawson, four to one, Stephen Dawson”

Nothing says ‘holiday!’ more than sitting on your couch having a snifter of port in the middle of the afternoon while watching a pointless football match (West Ham v Liverpool).  Good to see the Scousers conceding from a blatant foul on the keeper.  Anyway…

yesterday I went to a football match.  S*** or bust for both Barnsley and Brighton, us needing the points to stay up, them needing a win to stay on course for the play offs.  A classic was guaranteed.

That's zero mins to go, not gone.  A classic indeed.

We went 4-5-1, Pedersen out, replaced by McLoughlin, playing a sort of right midfield role.  Polish Tom went central and O’G was on his own up front.  1^st half, we played some attractive football, with McLoughlin in particular, impressing with his foraging runs.  However, goalless at half time, with the only real chance being a pullback to the edge of our box for Brighton to hit over.  Brighton led 3-1 on bookings, with the centre forward (Ulloa) doing his best to get sent off, though the ref did well to give him three last chances.

Second half, kicking towards the Ponty, I was optimistic.  Brighton would have to come at us more, we could pick them off on the counter (or vice versa).  Instead…nothing happened.  M’Voto missed an open goal with a header (head like a fifty pee piece) while McLaughlin hit the bar with a looping header from a looping Kennedy cross.  Hardly a chance, I’d say, more a case of our lad doing well to get the header somewhere on target.  Meantime, they blazed a couple more pullbacks over the bar.  (It’s almost like Brighton practice these things).

Then the most contentious decision(s) of the match.  Etuhu gets booked for making a perfectly fine tackle on the halfway line and within minutes he’s walking, as a blatant foul on a player bearing down on the final third gives the ref no choice.  Mr Reed was still so apoplectic after the match that he tried all the way to London to pick an argument with me about it, so I’ll tell it how it is: if the ref decided the 1^st one was a foul (even if I didn’t) he had to book him, cos their player was in on the break.  The 2^nd card was a little stupid.  Etuhu knew he was on a yellow, he shoulda just let their guy go (heading as he was towards the corner), let the centre half come in on the cover, while he regrouped in the centre.  But no, he HAD to make the challenge, a stone cold yellow if ever there was one.  So, we had 15 mins to play with a man down.

To be fair, Brighton still didn’t threaten.  Though with German Nick on the pitch, it often felt like we had 9 players.  I’d have dragged his sorry substitute ar5e off the field once we went down to 10, cos he has the mobility of a postbox.  The match drifted towards goallessness, as Brighton STILL had no sense of adventure.  What a let down they were to the 625 or whatever it was who came up.  (How does a team with 27,000 home fans, on the edge of the play offs, only manage 600 odd away fans?)  Brighton looked like a team happy to get a nil-nil at Barnsley.  Christ, I’D be disappointed with a nil-nil at Barnsley!

625/27000 = a very low ratio.

*** O’Grady.  Held up everything, brought players in, made an amazing defensive tackle 2^nd half.  Got nothing off the ref despite constant shirt pulling, kicking, etc etc.  The usual.

** M’Voto.  Won everything.  If only he’d bagged that open goal.

* Nyatanga.  The perfect central defensive pair?  Big and brutal with classy and calm?

Despatches:
Sponsors MOTM Dawson prompted well from midfield, despite the betting allegations against him.  Polish Tom had a couple of good runs down the middle, while Kennedy was excellent at left back.  As was Kelvin on the right, till his early departure.

Good noise from the fans too, especially the Ponty.  Such a shame the players couldn’t deliver.  The team did their best, played well, but lacked that extra quality needed to create chances.  Bring back Mellis!  (Or get Paddy on).  But don’t gimme German Nick.  O’Grady’s lack of pace is bad enough, without Herman being on.  I counted 4 touches for the German; 3 he lost the ball and a 4^th involved heading the ball straight up in the air (but with 10 men, no-one was running up in support).  He offers NOUGHT to our team.

Home Time on Grove Street

Drink du jour: vodka and orange or JD and coke.  Takes yer pick.  Then we drank the Betjeman out of Lowenbrau at St. Pancras (though admittedly this was only 4 pints) while it was also great to see the return of Geraldo.  And a lively train back, full of Leyton Orient…including a couple of ex-pupils of one Mr Jones!  (And you shoulda seen the size of the fat kid with the PE GCSE!)

Come on you Reds!

A

ps, I see Liverpool have just been given their 2^nd pen of the game, 5^th in a week.  That’s an entire SEASON’S worth.  F*** me.