Not happy. We had a game today there for the taking but ended up scraping a draw. There was even talk around me, as the game progressed that we might actually win a game by more than one goal.

So, a game we were so comfortable in for 70mins resulted in us desperate for a point.

Crewe offered nothing in the first half and we were strolling the game with no problems. The only slight on Brighton's play was that we were unable to put a shot on target early on.

We changed the formation a tad with Reid moving onto Kerry Mayo's left back berth (who was dropped). It was slightly difficult to work out what was going on from them on as Colin Kazim-Richards, Leon Knight & Sebastian Carole wew swapping about all over the place.

The match was one of the easiest I remember for quite a while. Crewe offered incredibly little to the game. But for this we never really threatened the goal. Our Midfield was not functioning too well and despite Oatway's decent showing in mid-week maybe it is time to finish in the Oatway-Chippie pairing. Both looked off the pace although Oatway worked hard up the pitch.

The very little that Alex threw at us was dealt with very well with by the defence who had a marked improvement in performance. McShane looked quality and Dodd showed the class he had at the Derby game.

Going forward we looked a lot more potent despite the chances on goal being lacking. Carole looked very lively, as was Colin and Leon. We had players who were turning round and getting at the Alex players. For all our play we only had corners to show for our efforts.

Even though the match was basically a stroll it took until about 37mins for Town to register our first attempt on target. A very good move saw CKR put in a deep cross for Dodd to strike a shot that was put out for a corner either by the keeper or a goal-line defender (not sure which).

Not sure afterwards we took a deserved lead. A clever free-kick was played ahead of McShane who chased the ball into the area who played in a first time ball across the box which was turned in at the near post by Knight.

It has been a long time since I thought this comfortable over a result but the Railwaymen were offering so little that I was not at all worried. The only blip up until then was a cross into our box which was headed over by an Alex player. This chance should have been converted considering our keeper had managed to get himself stranded again but the header dropped over the bar.

Again, although we had all the possession our chances were at a premium Knight headed a Dean Hammond cross safely at the goalie following good work by Carole.

Then came the subs. I can only guess that Carole was tiring as he was looking lively and a good prospect but he came off for Nicolas. Maybe also the thinking was to form things up to hold our lead.

Sadly within minutes we let them to equalise. A free-kick was played into feet that was fed to the left and met with a diving header from Mark Rivers who headed home. We could not even blame Henderson for the goal, in fact he did very little wrong, mainly because he had very little to do.

If letting them get on level terms was bad enough then letting them take the lead was even worse. Kenny Lunt was allowed the freedom of the county of Sussex to float a ball into the far post where Higdon was left completely unmarked to head home.

So here we were, staring down the barrel of a defeat that we hardly deserved.

MgGhee had again shuffled his pack by bringing on Turienzo for CKR and Robinson for Oatway. The latter was in a desperate attempt to save the game.

We were spirited into action with Knight looking ever lively. I have to say that I hope Federico gets better as he gets fitter because at the moment he has the look of a "White McCammon" about him especially as he managed to scuff a shot straight at Williams.

But fair play to Turienzo he was involved in our eventual leveller. He was in the box when Hammond again teleported into the danger to poke a cross straight into the keeper but was on hand to stab in the rebound.

We made an attempt at gaining a winner but all we had to show for those efforts was a decent move that saw Nicolas hot the side netting. There was a buzz of excitement everytime Robinson got the ball but it is too much to keep bringing him onto with the brief of saving the game for us.

I have to say it is very disappointing to only draw a game we really should have won.

Albion & England forever.

Thimble Keegan
Worthing BHA