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FA Cup: Stafford Rangers Report	Posted by David Snowball at Monday, December 04, 2006
The seagulls' set-up an exciting away day at West Ham with a comfortable victory against Conference side Stafford Rangers in the FA Cup. It will be Albion's first visit to Upton Park since the jubilant scenes of late 2003 when a Guy Butters header gave Brighton all three points on the hunting ground of seagulls' legend Bobby Zamora. If anyone was foolish enough to expect another 8-0 trashing of a semi-pro Conference side they were sorely mistaken. The visitors offered very little in attack and thus stuck several players behind the ball, seemingly to keep the score at a respectable level, naturally this meant for a less compelling tie, but nevertheless it was a professional performance from the home side that were able to win without ever coming out of second gear. Albion captain Dean Hammond opened the scoring on 20 minutes with a controlled drive into the bottom far corner after the visitors failed to close him down. Hammond seems to be adding far more goals than in previous seasons which is excellent to see as it has been many years since a serious goals contribution came from midfield and with Dean Cox also in great form he may also make a valuable goalscoring input. The visitors still lacked any creative spark and the seagulls seemed to slumber into half-time much to the disappointment of Albion manager Dean Wilkins. The seagulls certainly upped the tempo after the break and began to play at a level to quick and superior for their non-league visitors. And perhaps that should go for the referee as well. After a harsh booking for Adam Hinshelwood in he first-half he ridiculously booked Alex Revell for a ball-winning tackle much to the fury of the south stand who certainly let him know what they thought of the decision as did gaffer Wilkins who protested with the fourth official for quite some time. Just a few minutes afterwards though Revell effectively ended the game with a strong header from a brilliant cross by young Sam Rents who playing at left-back. It was a chance that all centre-forwards crave and capped a fine afternoon's work from Revell but also gave credit to the performance of Rents who slotted in almost unnoticed and made a composed home starting debut. In the final minutes Robinson made in three with a composed finish after a great through pass by Cox. These two are forming a strong partnership and if they are nurtured properly could be the creative spark that we need to win games at this level. In general it was an all-round solid display from Brighton who didn't underestimate their opponents and treated them with the respect that they deserved. Hopefully West Ham won't with us! Henderson: 6 Rents:(LB): 6 Lynch: (CB) 6 Hishelwood: (CB) 6 Mayo: (RB): 6 RHYS TURRELL Labels: FA Cup, Rhys Turrell, Stafford Rangers