Post Match report for the Watford game - Saturday, 29th December 2012
Brighton v Watford
PITCHSIDE NOTEBOOK; from the Amex, Falmer
RESULT; 1-3 ~ David . (ht 0-0) . SHAPE; 4-3-3 . PITCH; heavy rain immediately prior to k-o.
WEATHER; breezy and cool evening . GATE; 26,797 . REF; mixed response to fouls, pro or otherwise.
ATMOSPHERE; tried to make up for a quiet Christmas but party poopers took over flagging celebrations.
TEAM; . . . . . Kuszczak
. . Bruno, Greer, El-Abd, Bridge
. . . Orlandi, Bridcutt, Crofts
. . David, Mackail-Smith, LuaLua
BENCH; Brezovan, Dunk, Hammond, Dicker, Barnes (58), Hoskins (74), Dobbie (74)
Brighton fans had been waiting a while to see our heroes, due to postponement prior to Xmas festivities and a blank Boxing Day to boot. There was plenty of new Seagulls merchandise on show, although scarves, hats and gloves were more prominent than current or repro shirts.
Gus Poyet had Bruno, Orlandi and Dicker back to fitness, plus a plethora of out of form strikers. But Buckley went awol for this teatime tv contest.
GOALS; 54 min. Seagulls were in a flap when trying to cover the angles and leaving open spaces instead. 0-1 - you can't do that against quality sides.
65 min. LuaLua chased a loose ball in the area. Ref gave a fortunate penalty. David duly converted. 1-1 - what luck to level.
68 min. Watford broke away and a snap shot looped over the advancing Kuszczak. 1-2 - we were at sixes, sevens, fours, threes and it just didn't add up.
69 min. Albion attacked again. It broke down and travellers went at pace on the counter. 1-3- Kuszczak was beaten once more and his stats looked very lopsided.
SUBS; Gus was in a fix after visitors opened the scoring. He threw on Barnes in lieu of Orlandi who lasted an hour with a damaged rib. With fifteen minutes left we were now two behind and Crofts and David got withdrawn. Hoskins and Dobbie arrived in forlorn hope of salvaging a point. Home support streamed for the exits. They knew we wanted more than a wing and a prayer.
MOM; Bridcutt won approval but was he really expected to be all things to all men? We were the home outfit and there were goals in the game based on chances created. Defence was better going forward than backward, while midfield were all over the place. Strikers hunted in packs at the death but couldn't hurt a er, Hornet.
OVERFED FAN SAID; 'talking about turkeys, we sure got stuffed tonight. Most of our entrails were spread all over the pitch. They roasted us proper when turning maximum heat on.'
OLD-YEAR CYNIC SAID; 'roll on the January transfer window. You can see we're stuck with last year's stock well past sell-by and stick 'em on gum-tree for a quick sale.'
GRIM REAPER SAID; 'another massive crowd but you could feel frustration and doom and gloom in the air. Fans want goals to cheer and not more excuses from overpaid jumped-up lower league players.'
FS
