Post Match report for the West Ham game - Friday, 5th October 2018
PREMIER LEAGUE; Brighton v West Ham
ALBION STRIKE IRON WHEN HOT TO HANDLE
VENUE; the Amex, Falmer - 4th home match of eight fixtures to date.
RESULT; 1-0 ~ Murray . (h-t 1-0) . SHAPE; 4-4-1-1 . REF; liked to lecture or two.
OVERTURE; Brighton fans put the working week behind them and assembled for a rescheduled night game at the community stadium. It would be another three weeks before the next domestic fixture, so this inconvenience was summarily regarded as, no pain, no gain.
GATE; 30,544 . WEATHER; mild & dry . PITCH; surface water through the middle.
CHRIS HUGHTON resorted to orthodox thinking for selections by naming Murray at point. But he switched March into number ten and so started Jahanbakhsh on left flank. Bruno returned at right back. Izquierdo was on the bench.
TEAM; . . . . . . . . 1 Ryan
. . 2 Bruno, 4 Duffy, 5 Dunk, 3 Bong
. 11 Knockaert, 7 Kayal, 24 Propper, 16 Jahanbakhsh
. . . . . . . 20 March, . . . . . 17 Murray
BENCH; 27 Button, 30 Bernardo, 14 Balogun, 10 Andone, 19 Izquierdo (71), 8 Bissouma (80), 9 Locadia (86).
GOAL; 25 - 1-0. With the pattern of early play finely balanced, Kayal broke down the left wing to the by line. His fast low centre was turned in from point blank by MURRAY in the six yard box.
INCIDENTS; 56 - Kayal chased a loose ball just outside the home area but was brought down by a rash challenge. Ref flashed a yellow card, called the opposition captain over and administered a stern warning.
78 - Propper put his proverbial life on the line during a goalmouth melee as hosts were under the hammer. Ref blew up for injury while visitors continued to harass locals at length.
YELLOWS; 33 - Duffy blatantly tripped his man. 58 - Jahanbakhsh dove in unfairly. 61 - Kayal upended an opponent.
SUBS; 71 - fit again Izquierdo replaced starting debutant Jahanbakhsh. 80 - holding m-f Bissouma took over from injured Propper. 86 - link man March was withdrawn for centre forward Locadia.
Hughton kept options open for late changes but injury apart, the longer the match went on, the more likely he could give subs some playing time without undue need to change the game.
ANALYSIS; Albion opened scoring, ground out victory, kept a first clean sheet and took three points in a match favouring superior travellers for not so fine margins.
In a competitive but scrappy contest, lack of quality across the park reminded the crowd of those hard fought days of similar progression at level two.
Everything was played at one hundred miles per hour, with several pinball moments during periods of pressure in each final third. It was entertainment but always slightly on the edge of an unsettling scary story.
CONSEQUENCE; the ongoing average, that measures points per game, is now 1.00pt/gm. With a basic season requirement set at 1.00pt/gm, Albion are thus back on schedule.
Forthcoming fixtures in the period between next two international breaks hold the key to gaining further figures potentially above parity.
1ST FAN; +Glenn is on 99 goals for us now and if he continues to score regularly we shall take one-nil wins every time+
2ND FAN; +Hammers flattered to deceive but their failure to net was partly due to our do or die attitude in defence+
3RD FAN; +we now go into this second pause during Prem fixtures in pretty good shape for upping the ante and hitting the ground running in a fortnight+
Fatmanslims
