Team News
Steven Caldwell has joined Boaz Myhil, Gurinae N’Daw, Keith Fahey, Jonathan Spector and Stephen Carr on the side lines. Jordon Mutch has an outside chance of making the game.
Brighton will be without ex-Blue Marcos Painter and Captain Gordon Greer.
Reverse Fixture
The two sides met at the end of October and fought out a 0-0 draw that featured a grand total of zero shots on target. Not exactly a classic.
Recent Form
Brighton have slumped to ninth with a run of only three points from the last six games. They have lost only four times at home all season.
Blues are still fourth but have drawn their last three. They are unbeaten in four away from home.
Outlook
Tuesday’s point at Ipswich has just about secured our playoff place as while we technically need another point I can’t see Middlesbrough beating Southampton if they can’t even beat Doncaster. The other results also meant that Brighton can now not finish sixth so this fixture has become less important to them and in theory easier for us. I’m not sure I buy into that idea though as teams that have been on a poor run can often perform better when the pressure is off. It would be good to get a win tomorrow just to take the pressure off our final game although that will only decide who we play in the playoffs and when. I’d rather not meet West Ham but I’m not that bothered if we finish fifth rather than fourth as playing away first is only a slight advantage. Also I’d prefer to travel up to St Andrews on a Friday rather than a Tuesday as I don’t have to go to work the following day.
Whatever happens tomorrow it can’t be any worse that the first match which was totally devoid of any incident at all. A young lad next to me asked his dad if he could play on his Nintendo DS instead after twenty minutes. In the second half I wished that I’d got one as well. Brighton have had a great first season in the Championship but have just started to run out of steam. Last week’s 6-0 drubbing at West Ham won’t have helped their confidence. We have also lost some momentum and have not been helped by injuries to Keith Fahey, Guirane N’Daw and now Steven Caldwell. We will have to score a few goals to get promoted as I can’t see us keeping any clean sheets. At least Curtis Davies is still around and should inherit the Captain’s armband tomorrow. I’d also like to see Nathan Redmond get a run out, maybe on the right which would give Chris Burke a well deserved rest.
So it’s a shame that the weather won’t be as we had hoped when we saw that Brighton was going to be the last away trip of the season but I’m sure that the large Blues following will enjoy themselves anyway. I expect that there will be a lot of fancy dress on display as is traditional even though it won’t actually be the last away trip this season. After drawing 3-3, then 2-2 and then 1-1 the omens are pointing to a 0-0 but I don’t see that happening. A 1-1 draw turned out to be the correct prediction last time (For a change!) so I’ll go with it again.
Brighton 1 Blues 1
C’mon you Blue Boys
Your last prediction was spot on, but there are factors here that you have perhaps overlooked. CH will be painfully aware that Blues have to start winning again, if only to remember how to do it!!
The 2-2 with Bristol was a minor disaster imho, a win would have just about guaranteed the play-offs and (more importantly) enabled CH to rotate the team, which is now becoming increasingly injury prone after 58 games. Burke, Murphy, King & Davis (to name but 4) should have been mothballed until the play-offs, but now the first XI risks being utterly played out as a result of these wasteful drawn games.
I am hoping CH grasps the nettle here and stops this painful limping towards the line with 3 solid points, a confident 4-3-3 performance and at least 3 goals is the least fans should expect – and then CH can give the bench a run out in the Reading game, and not worry about the result!!
Prediction – back to form:
Gulls 1 – 3 Blues.
If Brighton put the pressure on in the second half, will CH sub early? And who will be getting the run out…?