Post Match report for the Crystal Palace game - Tuesday, 4th December 2018

PREMIER LEAGUE; Brighton v Palace

ALBION EXPOSE GLASSHOUSE REALITY FOR PALACE


VENUE; the Amex, Falmer - 7th home match of fifteen fixtures to date.
RESULT; 3-1 ~ Murray, Balogun, Andone . (h-t 3-0) . SHAPE; 4-4-1-1 . REF; been around for years but not made a lot of friends.

PREAMBLE; this was selectively scheduled as an evening match for reasons related to geographical proximity and territorial history. Vast majority of fans wished to see entertaining football, goals scored and points on the board by 10pm.
Police squads were much in evidence prior to kickoff.
GATE; 29,663 . WEATHER; cold with showers.

CHRIS HUGHTON made decisions regarding starting personnel with reference to experience, capability and current form. Bruno was rested, Montoya resumed but Murray returned.

TEAM; . . . . . . . . . 1 Ryan
. . 22 Montoya, 4 Duffy, 5 Dunk, 30 Bernardo
. 20 March, 24 Propper, 8 Bissouma, 19 Izquierdo
. . . . . . . 13 Gross, . . . . . . 17 Murray

BENCH; 23 Steele, 3 Bong, 14 Balogun (31), 7 Kayal, 11 Knockaert (49), 10 Andone (35), 9 Locadia.



GOALS; 24 - 1-0. Izquierdo took up the bouncing ball outside the area but fell when pressed after crossing the line. MURRAY smashed the spot kick in off the bar.
31 - 2-0. Following Murray being flattened and subsequent fracas, March took the corner which deflected to unmarked BALOGUN who volleyed it in.
45+4 - 3-0. A clearance by Bernardo out to left flank was chased by ANDONE right into the final third from where he sneaked between two hapless defenders to poach unlikely scoring.
81 - 3-1. Balogun dove in as the attacker made for the by line. Ryan went the wrong way from the penalty kick.

INCIDENTS; 28 - Murray got chopped from behind in the area, Duffy joined the group, used his head on an opponent and Ref raised a straight red card.

YELLOWS; 77 - Bernardo for an illegal challenge. 80 - Bissouma got involved to disadvantage.

SUBS; 31 - Balogun replaced Duffy and Gross was withdrawn. 35 - Andone went on when Murray came off injured. 49 - Knockaert took to the flank in lieu of Izquierdo.
Positive reactions and immediate changes from the bench at crucial times made for a seamless display overall.

ANALYSIS; an extraordinary game reminiscent of lower league fare as intermittently witnessed at Withdean sports complex last decade. Two soft penalties, a blatant act of losing ones head, a subs first kick scores a second goal and a sensational successful solo counter attack to lead by three at the break. You could not make it up as alternative fake news gone viral.
Albion shuffled the pack when left one short and that meant an hour to go and soak up the anticipated onslaught. Each Seagull put in a shift, maintained team discipline & formation and saw it through defensively as per instructions at the interval.
The performance deserved credit, especially when goalposts were altered after indiscretion by a senior pro, who will regret such actions at leisure this side of Xmas.


1ST FAN; +pundits use phrases like game changer but in the first half these things were happening quickly and yet we still had our ducks, or maybe seagulls all in a row+

2ND FAN; +on the concourse at halftime they were singing in the catering queues after that amazing run by our new popular striker Andone+

3RD FAN; +we have never seen an M23 derby like that for many a year. It almost had everything for blue & white to get excited by, thrilled with and celebrate at length+

Fatmanslims