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Beeby booby blights Slade opener: Leyton Orient 2-1 Brighton	Posted by David Snowball at Sunday, March 08, 2009
Albion fans once had a lot to thank Richard Beeby for when he awarded the decisive penalty kick in the club's 2004 play-off final against Bristol City. At Orient the same official was guilty of evening up a much-derided decision by awarding a soft penalty which gave the home side a totally undeserved route back into the game. Albion, with five debutants in their line-up, totally dominated the first half at Brisbane Road and led just after a quarter of an hour when centre back Matt Heath prodded home a loose ball in the six-yard area after Orient's keeper Jamie Jones failed to grasp the ball. It was all very comfortable for Brighton until shortly before half time the diminutive Al Bangura challenged for a high ball and caught an opponent with his trailing arm. It didn't look malicious but with the Orient faithful baying for a red card, Beeby took his time before brandishing just a yellow card. Straight from the resulting free kick, there was an innocuous challenge in the Albion penalty area which looked like a fairly routine clearance by Heath until the official stunned everyone by pointing to the penalty spot. It certainly felt like it was directly linked to righting the perceived wrong of the previous decision. Orient's recently returned veteran goalscorer Scott McGleish stepped up to bury the spot kick past Brighton's new great Dane goalie and the momentum of the equaliser galvanised Orient to run out in the second half with a lot more determination. It wasn't long before the crossbar was rattled by a McGleish shot and Albion generally were second best as the home side tried to press home their superiority. The ponderous McLeod not surprisingly gave way to Seb Carole and to enable him to forage on the right, Tommy Fraser was withdrawn to be replaced by back-from-suspension David Livermore. Unfortunately, with Craig Davies snatching at the few good chances that came his way and Lloyd Owusu appearing to struggle with a hamstring injury after an impressive earlier stint in which he won a fair number of headers, Albion never really looked like getting the hoped-for winner. Just when it seemed proceedings would peter out to a draw, Sean Thornton picked up the ball around the edge of the area and fired home an unstoppable winner with some aplomb. There was no way back for Albion as Orient did a highly professional job of running down the clock. Player ratings Mikkel Andersen - looked a little edgy and stuck to his line when he needed to be a bit more commanding Andrew Whing - familiar Whingy display; wholehearted and some impressive runs in support of more forward players. But passing was wasteful at times. Matt Heath - commanding and eventful debut. Got on the scoresheet by being in the right place at the right time. Penalised harshly to hand Orient their equaliser. Adam El Abd - another wholehearted display from the stand-in skipper. Didn't deserve to finish on the losing side. Gary Borrowdale - tidy debut at left-back. One or two understandable communication issues. Tommy Fraser - surprise inclusion wide right of the midfield four: it hasn't worked before and didn't work today. Substituted. Al Bangura - energetic debut and showed good touches at times. Quite evident he hasn't played much recently but showed promise for the run-in. Jason Jarrett - a bit of a frustrating afternoon for him and less effective after being booked for a cynical trip. Kevin McLeod - can't work out what his problem is; he's got a sweet left foot but he looks like he's labouring. Unsurprisingly subbed - again. Craig Davies - at times looked like he was posing a threat but seemed to lack a killer touch and wasted some good half chances. Lloyd Owusu - looked like quite a handful and won a high percentage of high balls in his direction. Looked to be struggling with a hamstring pull towards the end. Subs Seb Carole - never really got into it. David Livermore - good to see him back after suspension. Not an impact player, though. Had one header from edge of the area which was easily held. By Nick Turrell Labels: League One, Leyton Orient, Nick Turrell