Welcome to Flying High

The Great Escape: Part 2! Bristol Rovers 1 - 2 Brighton & Hove Albion	Posted by David Snowball at Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Bristol Rovers 1 - 2 Brighton & Hove Albion By Colin Snowball What a great night last night. The transformation from the team we saw at MK and against Swindon is unbelievable. Who would ever of thought that Gary Hart would be our saviour?! He had a great game and, as you've probably seen, made both goals with great crosses. Andrew’s header for the second was particularly impressive too, considering that "Footballer", "never" and "hole in my arse" are words contained in many phrases heard about him! I hadn't rated Gary Dicker much before either but he impressed last night by being very calm in midfield and playing simple balls out of trouble whenever necessary. Dean Cox went off with a bad injury before half time and judging by the way he hobbled onto the pitch at the end of the game, he won't be playing on Saturday. Owusu was also injured towards the end but hopefully he isn't as bad as he's been a different player recently too. I feel sorry for Craig Davies. He so badly needs a goal and you can tell that he wants to be loved. He came on as sub near the end but looked lacklustre and at the end came over to the fans but was largely ignored, probably due to the fact that Calvin Andrew had dived into the crowd and was being mobbed - not a bad reaction for a Palace player! Hinsh got better as the game went on but at one point in the second half he slipped and went down holding his knee. You could tell by the look on his face and Tommy Elphick's reaction that he thought that he’d done his ligament again but after treatment he got up gingerly and hobbled on. I thought that it was a dead cert that he’d soon come off (El Abd was immediately warming up) but soon after he sprinted across the area to make a last gasp tackle to save a likely goal. I wouldn’t mind betting that he'll be back in the treatment room very soon, though. Credit also to Adam Virgo who had a great game with Elphick in the back four (Borrowdale too, come to that) but Bob Booker made a special point of acclaiming him to the crowd at the end and he put in a number of crunching tackles. It really looked like it meant something to him which was great to see. Having seen their goal again, it was a deflection that wrong footed Kuipers but apart from a couple of saves, he didn't have a lot to do, the defence doing a great job of protecting him and it always seemed to me that we were the more likely winners. Credit all round then, except to my usual whipping boy Tommy Fraser, who, I think, just doesn't contribute enough but perhaps I'm missing something. I see that there was nearly 700 Albion fans there. A great turn out and a brilliant night for us all. I really don’t believe that all of the plastic Premiership fans that you see everywhere can ever experience the emotions that we do on such occasions. My voice has gone this morning from all of the singing! I'm off to Huddersfield on Saturday for more of the same! Labels: Bristol Rovers, Colin Snowball, League One
> There is currently 0 comments. Click to post a comment... links to this post

Match Report: Crewe 1 - 2 Brighton	Posted by David Snowball at Monday, August 11, 2008
It was a half decent performance yesterday but we weren't up against much to be honest. We started off well, pressing well up the pitch and getting lots of crosses into the box. Unfortunately, most of the play was coming down our right which meant that Cox planted most crosses straight onto the head of one of their defenders. Although we had lots of the ball we weren't making many chances and Calvin Zola should have scored with an easy header from a free kick while our defence were still getting to know each other. Virgo was looking lost in midfield as he doesn't have quick enough feet or enough mobility to properly fill that position. However, the one plus that he does have is his height, especially when getting forward which, in the end, led to the first goal. Mickey Adams switched McLeod to the right and the first time he had a chance to get a decent cross in resulted in it going straight to Virgo who made no mistake. My Crewe supporting mate was in their main stand and said he was right in line with Virgo and he reckoned he was off side but there were no complaints from the players and the goal stood. Virgo did improve as the game went on but largely because he was given time on the ball. Once he gets someone snapping at him all game (like Thomson did covering for him) then I feel that he will look out of his depth in midfield. We went in at half time fully deserving the lead and continued after the break. We were all over Crewe in the second half and hit the bar and post and had numerous scrambles in front of goal. Not getting a second goal looked like it may cost us and after they bought on Elding up front we started sitting back and letting Crewe play as we started to look a bit tired. Sure enough they got Calvin Zola through and he finished well past Kuipers who had had little to do other than punch out a few crosses. The Crewe jinx looked like it would continue but Forster got away right at the end and gave their keeper no chance with a great left foot shot into the corner - cue rapturous scenes in the far corner of the ground. New boys Hawkins and McLeod both looked like good acquisitions, Thomson had a good game in midfield as did Whing at the back and Foster up front. We shouldn't get carried away as Crewe won't have much of a season if they play like that all the time but it was good to see an accomplished performance and gives a good start to the campaign. Player Ratings Kuipers - 6 Whing - 8 Elphick - 7 Hawkins - 8 Richards - 7 Cox - 6 Thomson - 9 Virgo - 7 McLeod - 8 Forster - 8 Murray - 7 Labels: Colin Snowball, Crewe, League One
> There is currently 0 comments. Click to post a comment... links to this post