Early doors it was a bright and chilly morning but this belied the heavy rain, biting winds with gale force gusts that we were promised later. I was up early and took the opportunity to chop off my dahlia tops that had blackened with the recent frosts. Winter is coming. It was soon time to head for the train and it was still a pleasant still day but I took the precaution of wrapping up warm with three layers including my home top over which the new iconic away strip was placed. Warm boots, a scarf of the faithful and my peeky blinders cap completed the ensemble and I walked the ten minutes down to Blackwater to catch the train to Guildford and from there to Haslemere where Will was to pick me up before going on to Brighton to meet up with Chris who had caught the train from Coventry directly to the south coast via London. I called Will to let him know I was underway to be greeted by “Will here, man of the people and taxi service to the old!” Bloody hell it had started already! We hadn’t even met up yet and William was at it! I told him he was a cheeky sod, less of the ‘old’ and besides he should show more respect! Anyway, I arrived on time at Haslemere and we drove to Brighton station to pick up Chris and then to the racecourse to pick up one of the buses to the ground.
The predicted weather arrived on cue just in time for kick off. The driving rain and blustery wind could not have been easy for the players but for all that it was a good display from both sides. Brighton however, were on the front foot from the off and I was impressed with their speedy one touch football, high tempo movement and willingness to make most of the second balls theirs. Hemed for the hosts brought a smart stop from Kuzczak early on and Blues had to work hard and concentrate not to go behind. Unfortunately, just when it looked as if Blues, playing in their ‘German’ away strip, had settled into the game and had seen off the initial home onslaught, they went behind. An opening down the left flank by Murphy was delivered to Liam Rosenior whose excellent far post cross found Solly March. His initial effort was blocked but the ball fell to him again and he made no mistake from about ten yards which Kuzczak could only parry but not prevent the ball crossing the line on 18 minutes. Blues responded well and were level only five minutes later with a well worked move which gave Jacques Maghoma an opportunity to shoot from just inside the box. His drive was parried by Stockdale but following up was Jon Toral who headed into the unguarded net. Brighton came back at Blues and in another attack, Rosenior was injured and had to be stretchered off after a rugged block tackle which looked to have sprung his medial knee ligaments (ouch!) I doubt he will be playing for a few weeks I’m afraid. Just after, Brock-Madsen nearly had his first goal for Blues with a bending effort towards the top corner which Stockdale could only watch and hope. Sadly, it was just outside the angle and the hosts escaped a scare.
An in-swinging free kick from Solly March was spilled by Kuzczak and the ball was gleefully tapped home by a waiting Brighton forward. My head was in my hands but referee, Gavin Ward gave a free kick to Blues for an alleged infringement which I confess I did not see; it looked a perfectly legitimate goal to me but in fairness, Brighton didn’t protest so there must have been something akin to a foul. Blues were becoming frustrated by the apparent inconsistency from the officials especially when a soft free kick was given on the edge of the area which Kayal hit powerfully past the wall for Kuzczak to parry just as powerfully away. Blues had to see out a series of corners before Blues almost snatched the lead in the five minutes added due to Rosenior’s injury. A good pass from Paul Caddis to Jon Toral found the Spanish loanee with room to take a touch and narrowly miss the target from the edge of the area with a curling shot. Half time came with the score level at 1-1.
It was imperative that Blues kept up the so far good defensive discipline in the first 15 minutes of the second half but Jamie Murphy was allowed to get to the byline far too easily and his pull back to Solly March was fiercely fired at Kuzczak who saved well but luck deserted Blues at this point as the rebound fell to Bobby Zamora rather than one of our defenders; it was the simplest of tap ins. Kuczcak dropped an in-swinging corner not long after but his blushes were spared as the rebound was fired over the bar. Just after an hour, James Vaughan came on for Brock-Madsen and David Davis for Jacques Maghoma as Blues changed formation to 4-3-3 with a more direct approach. There is no doubt that Blues looked far more threatening but Blues nearly got caught out a couple of times themselves on the break as the game became ever more open. Gray tested Stockdale when benefitting from an excellent flick from Vaughan he stung the keeper’s hands with a fierce shot at the near post which was parried for a corner. However, with Blues pushing on, James Wilson really should have wrapped the game up on 84 minutes when put clean through; he side-footed past Kuzczak only for the ball to cannon off the post back into the keeper’s grateful grasp.
Blues did their utmost to make the most of this let off and in the six minutes added on at the end, Vaughan went close with a swivelling strike that was just high and wide but the equaliser that Blues arguably deserved was denied on 92 minutes by a truly fantastic save low down by Stockdale at his right and post. David Davis could not have hit his 18 yard drive any better and nine times out of ten especially in such wet conditions it would have been 2-2. Blues battered on the door for the remaining few minutes but Brighton held on. They are a good side and although this was an entertaining contest, the home side were just that much better than us. Blues did not play badly, far from it but we got done by a better side on the day. Blues will play less well than this and win this season.
Birmingham remain sixth despite our indifferent run of results. How much better our position would be had we not squandered so many points at home. Blues must beat Huddersfield next week to make sure our season does not fall away.
The Good: The match; this was a really good game of football and entertaining to watch. The play from both sides was of a high standard.
The Bad: The catering; the food and liquid refreshment was very good when we eventually got it but the service was incredibly slow which has not been the case on previous occasions at Brighton.
The Ugly: The weather; it is a credit to the players that given it was lashing it down and there was a stiff wind swirling across the pitch that they were able to deliver such a good performance.
Brighton & Hove Albion: David Stockdale 8, Bruno Saltor 7, Lewis Dunk 7, Dale Stephens 7, Gordon Greer 7, Beram Kayal 8, Tomer Hemed 7 (Rohan Ince 83, N/A) Jamie Murphy 8, Solly March 9, Liam Rosenior 7 (Inigo Calderon 27, 7) Bobby Zamora 8 (James Wilson 66, 7)
Subs not used: Niki Maenpaa, Connor Goldson, Elvis Manu, Rajiv van La Parra.
Goals: March, Zamora
Yellow cards: Stephens, Kayal, Stockdale’s, March.
Birmingham City: Tomas Kuczcak 8, Paul Caddis 7, Michael Morrison 8, Jonathan Spector 7, Jonathan Grounds 7, Jacques Maghoma 7 (David Davis 64, 8) Mikael Kieftenbeld 7 Jon Toral 9, Stephen Gleeson 7, Demarai Gray 7 (Viv Soloman-Otabor 83, N/A) Nicolai Brock-Madsen 7 (James Vaughan 64, 8)
Subs not used: Adam Lezgdins, Neal Eardley, Andrew Shinnie, Shane Lowry.
Goals: Toral.
Yellow cards: Grounds, Kieftenbeld, Caddis, Gleeson.
Referee: Gavin Ward 6: A bit of a mixed bag from the officials I thought. He failed to penalise Brighton on a number of occasions for clear fouls especially in the first half and yet gave identical instances to the home side. Lack of consistency drives the paying fan mad and this was one such match. He made a very poor call, as we pressed for an equaliser, against Maghoma who had beaten one man and shouldered another off whilst still in control of the ball. The excellent field position with two Blues players running into position for the cross from the byline, came to naught as the man in the middle gave a free kick. However, there was a lot the referee and his assistants did get right and I thought he kept a lid on things when matters were getting feisty even though it was at the expense of a number of yellow cards. He stood for no nonsense with time wasting and it was good to see plenty of time added on at the end as a result; I for one would like to see a lot more referees doing this. In the end the board stated six minutes extra but eight were added despite Brighton goalkeeper, Stockdale’s best efforts for which he was rightly carded.
Attendance: 27,242
KRO Bazza
Thanks for another entertaining report of yesterday’s game. I always read your blog.
Thanks Carl, I’m glad there are people out there that do! 😀
Good report will always have respect for chris hughton for the football he got blues playing when he was our manager.I don’t think we will make the play-offs as our squad is to small but we wont be relegated.
From a Brighton point of view, good blog. Thought you were lucky not to be down to to 10 men, that Grounds constantly hacking March. If the game had ended 5-1 it would have been a fair reflection.
Great write up – one of the most entertaining games I have seen at the Amex for a while, with both teams looking to play positive attacking stuff – end to end at several points, I was amazed there were only 3 goals. Possession wise Brighton are generally good for 60ish percent, and winning by the odd goal seemed fair – we were very thankful for DS13s fantastic save at the death.. we have a habit if not putting away our chances, and it would not have been a surprise if the game had ended 2-2.
I also thought the ref was poor, but thought he was poor for both sides… mainly poor for you in the first half, and for us in the second. A poor hack at BZ unpunished and a pretty innocuous challenge from Stephens carded seconds later. As you say it’s the inconsistency that really grates.
Added time was arse clenchingly tense – you were chucking the kitchen sink at the death, and we were really holding on – sadly time wasting is part of the game… drives the fans nuts, but all teams do it – DS13 regularly gets a card for it.
Good luck for the rest of the season!
Can’t agree with your assessment grawhite. You should take off the rose tinted glasses. Yes Brighton were the better side on the day but 5-1 better? Really? You imply a one-sided contest and this was not. Birmingham missed their chances especially first half and could have had a couple more themselves with better finishing but they didn’t and you didn’t score more because of good defending and the odd slice of luck on our part (James Wilson’s chance for instance). Brock-Madsen and Toral should both have added to our tally so it’s conjecture isn’t it? As Ben reasonably suggests it could have gone wrong for you at the end and finished up 2-2 and Brighton would have had only themselves to blame but David Stockdale pulled off a worldy and the result ended up about right on the balance of play. Brighton will be there or thereabouts at the end of the season but you have to have a lean spell at some stage so get prepared; good luck for the rest of the season.