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Brighton & Hove
Albion 1 - 3 Norwich City |
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Thank
God for the international break. Hopefully this will
give Mark McGhee the chance to take stock and sort the
players out. Today was not a good performance at all.
The same team that got a creditable draw at Leicester
City in the week started against Norwich City this
afternoon. This though, was always going to be a tougher
game as the Canaries are much better side than the
Foxes. The Carrow Road Club were relegated out of the
Premiership last season and have managed to hold onto
most of their players from that campaign. This meant
they were always going to be superior to us but when 3
o'clock comes you are always hopefull. Also, in Nigel
Worthington, I believe they have a good manager.
Norwich have had a stuttering start but this afternoon
at the Galpharm Stadium they showed that they are
beginning to come good. Town, of course, very much
contributed to their own downfall in a rather all round
poor display. The referee did not help either by being
crap but we cannot blame him for our failings.
The game got underway in a rather busy first 10 or so
minutes and the match was somewhat end-to-end but with
no real chances created. What was evident though was
City's work ethic and how they closed us down the
instant we had possession. They moved the ball
brilliantly at times. Paul McVeigh was exceptionally
busy and Darren Huckerby was already showing he had the
beating of Paul Reid. Huckerby gave Reid a roasting
everytime. Paul had a below par game and when he was not
getting gone by Darren he was misplacing passes.
I say the game was end-to-end in the opening stages of
the game but it was only so on our part when we played
the ball on the ground. This was not as much as it
should have been and too often we resorted to hitting
the ball long. We had Colin Kazim-Richards in attack for
added height so the long ball ploy was not entirely a
bad one. What was bad came from the fact these punts
forward were seemingly aimed more to Leon Knight than
Kazim-Richards. This was meat & drink to Gary Doherty
who won just about every header. I am sure that if
Knight had recieved the ball on the deck and had the
chance to run at Doherty he would have given him a
torrid time. On the odd occasion the ball was launched
towards CKR he once again showed his unwillingness to
jump for a header when marked. Colin also allowed the
complaining to creep back into his game when he does not
get decisions.
The showings against Plymouth Argyle & Leeds United now
seem a distant memory. The thing is when we had the ball
on the deck we did show flashes of what we are capable
of. This was all to rare though. We just were not
functioning properly. The midfield was severely
handicapped without the Dean Hammond & Richard Carpenter
partnership and Albert Jarrett was anonymous down the
left wing apart from a first half shot. I heard Jarrett
had a storming first half at the Walkers Stadium on
Tuesday but today he was non-existant and never troubled
the full-back.
The Norfolk team were looking good though and despite
Dean Marney missing a far post header they took the lead
on about 22mins. A ball was played forward in the
direction of Kevin Lisbie who was standing in an offside
position. He did not touch the ball so the lino did not
raise his flag. Whilst the Terriers players were
claiming offside Huckerby sprinted from an onside
position down our right flank. Darren got the ball
before cutting into the penalty area and deilvering a
low shot that curled around the goalkeeper and went in
off the base of the post.
We replied by raising our tempo a bit but still were
making long passes to the heads of the City central
defenders. We started to look sharper when the ball was
played to feet and we forced a few corners. One of those
was after a good move that saw an Albert shot blocked.
Leon and Sebastien Carole were also managing to draw
fouls and get free-kicks when the ref bothered to spot
them.
From one of the free-kicks that Knight played in the
ball pinged about in the penalty area before falling
invitingly for Hammond. In other reports I have spoken
about Dean's goal-touch deserting and he was true to
form this afternoon. With the whole goal gaping he
somehow stuck the ball over the bar to waste a dream
chance to draw us level. I do not want to berate Dean
too much as he had to do the work of 2 people in the
middle of the park. This was because Charlie Oatway
looked decidely off the pace of the game today. Oatway
was constantly left chasing shadows and normally Charlie
is noticed because he gives the ball away but he hardly
got near the ball at times. Charlie did manage a couple
of decent tackles though but he was badly shown up when
late in the first-half the Canaries cleared one of our
attacks the ball fell to his area mid-way inside the
City half. But Oatway looked for like he had switched
off as he watched the ball sail over him. It took Reid
coming up from defence for us to regain possesion and
avoid Norwich launching a break-away .
But before the above chance we had a strong penalty
appeal waved away by the ref. As Knight and Calum
Davenport chased a ball that seemed to cross the top
corner of the penalty area it looked as though Leon had
been felled by a Davenport arm. I did not have the best
of views of it but judging by the reaction of the Town
fans in the North Stand singing section it would appear
a spot-kick should have been awarded.
Oatway was not the only senior player to be having a
very bad day. Kerry Mayo was keeping him company in that
respect. Mayo had a shocker and really needs to up his
game and fast if he is to remain in the team Kerry had
already lost his man once when he came under pressure
from a high dropping ball in the 41st minute. Mayo
appeared to go up for the header but completely missed
it and the ball dropped behind him where Marney brought
it under control. Dean strode into the area and slid a
ball across the face of goal and McVeigh was on hand to
accept the invitation to make it 2-0.
The East Anglian side's tails were up and full of
confidence. In what little time that was remaining of
the first 45 City could have added a third. First
Davenport headed wide from corner then Huckerby shot
past the post when he beat Reid again found himself in
the exact same positon from the one he scored from.
As the ref blew you could see McGhee visibly fuming as
he marched across the pitch to the changing rooms. We
expected a half-time bollocking to be handed out.
As with the pattern of recent Brighton performances a
better second 45 has often followed a disappointing
first-half. This sort of followed the pattern as were
slightly improved but only slighty.
By this time Norwich has brought on Ian Hednerson for
Youssef Safri and Henderson was to have an eventfull
game for somone who did not play whole game. He was not
on for long when he crashed in on Kerry from behind.
Mayo reacted by getting up and grabbing Ian from behind
who in turn then flicked a back-heel at him. I am not
sure if he connected with Kerry but it was a petulant
act of retailation from Henderson. He was booked for
this.
McGhee then started to shuffle his pack as Alexandre
Frutos replaced Jarrett. Mark then took off Kerry &
Oatway, both of whom were very ineffective. Gary Hart
and Jake Robinson took their places. Now this change was
confusing as we knew Hammond kept his central midfield
berth but there were no set positions for the other
midfielders and forwards. They seem to interchange the
positions at will much like the Chezch Republic's
midfield 4 swap about. This baffled Norwich somewhat and
added to the direct running of Alexandre and especially
Jake who, chased every ball, had us finally starting to
flow.
This did not stop City moving the ball and creating
chances though. One incident saw Kevin bring a high ball
down and completely goose Paul McShane, then play a ball
down the wing for Darren to chase. With Gary chasing him
back Huckerby progressed into the box once again and he
played in a low cross. This was met by Ian who hit a low
shot first time but as our 'keeper was scrambling back
across his goal he stuck out a foot and deflected thr
ball straight up into the air. Guy Butters then met the
ball as it fell and headed it out for a corner. From
this corner McVeigh headed goalwards but our keeper made
a fine save.
We then got ourselves back in the game with Frutos'
first goal for Brighton. Leon took a corner which the
Canaries cleared but as with the Argyle game the ball
fell perfectly for a Terriers player about 23 yards out.
But this time in the absence or Chippy it was down to
Alex to smash home into Robert Green's top right-hand
corner. England's number 2 goalkeeper had no chance with
the shot.
The game raised itself as a spectacle as we looked for
an equaliser whilst Norwich were still dangerous on the
break. One break they did have was worked from right to
left to find Darren in space in our area. As he was
about to pull the trigger McShane came flying in 'scissored'
Huckerby. The defender played the ball so there was no
problem with the tackle but it did leave Huckerby in a
heap and he spent the rest of the match limping about.
We pressed on for the second goal without really
creating serious chances. We were pinning City back and
Carole, who up until that point was having one of his
most quietest matches in a Town shirt was suddenly
causing havoc. His running and skill had Norwich worried
and every time he attacked down the right wing they
brought Huckerby back to assist the full-back and double
up in Seb. Carole's only negative is that his shots seem
tame.
We were getting in behind them but as I said without
much end product. Robinson was electric and ran his
socks off but wasted a chance when he took to many
touches when he recieved a pass from Frutos on the left.
By the time he went to get his shot away a defender
closed him down enough to charge the effort down.
Our last good effort on goal came from Knight. He had
the ball to the right of the penalty area and with Green
off his line he lifted an attempt over him. Green
managed to get back though and tip the ball over the
bar.
Whilst Leon's chance was our last try at goal it was not
the Carrow Road club's and they were to score from
theirs. Henderson who many thought should have been sent
off for his retaliation on Mayo earlier bagged City's
third. It was a quality individual goal as he helped
complete Reid's miserable afternoon by going past him
easily and when he cut into the area placed an excellent
left foot shot into the top corner. This pretty much
ended the game.
Nowich were worth their win but I hope McGhee can lick
the lads into shape during the break. Less of hoofing
the ball forwards and more of getting it onto the ground
and using our skillfull players to do their stuff is
definately an aspect that needs addressing.
Albion & England forever.
Thimble Keegan
Worthing BHA
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