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FANS
REPORT: BRIGHTON 1 - 1 COVENTRY, SAT 14 AUG 04
We
have this report from the game:
It
was quite an open game and, to be fair, we had a few chances. The
difference between the two teams was that they had two strikers who
could convert chances.
I
wouldn't mind betting that Dean Ashton will be playing in the
Premiership
by the end of this season. He punished sloppy defending on
our part with two crisp finishes, and he could easily have had a couple
more.
Mark
Rivers also did well to steal in ahead of Danny Cullip to
fire in low and hard at the near post from a left wing cross.
Paul
Reid deserved to get on the scoresheet for all his endeavour, but
it
was too little too late by the time his bullet shot from 25 yards
hit the back of the net.
I
thought he and Alexis Nicolas played really well in midfield and
Leon
Knight carried
on where he left off at
Derby
- working very hard
with
very
little support. In fairness, Darren Currie again looked our most
likely player to score - at least he was prepared to have some shots,
and he was unlucky with a cute chip and a long range effort that hit
the top of the bar.
The
one time Knight eluded the
Crewe
back line, his first
touch let him
down
and the 'keeper came out bravely to snuff out the chance.
Although
losing Adam Virgo to injury on Friday afternoon was an obvious
blow,
it was a mystery to everybody why there were no strikers among
our subs.
It
was obvious from the outset that John Piercy wasn't going to last
the whole match. He's obviously got a worrying condition which has
drained his fitness, and, although he tried to link play between the
midfield and the front, he was clearly struggling.
In
that case, you'd have expected to see Jake Robinson on the bench,
ready to take over as Piercy tired. Instead we had Hammond, one of
three central midfielders selected. McGhee said afterwards that Molango
wasn't match fit, and he didn't think Jake would have made that much
difference. I think it would have been worth finding out! And where was
Albert Jarrett?
The
other experiment he tried which didn't seem to work was putting
Harding in midfield and restoring Mayo to left back. Watch the TV
replays of the first goal and see how Mayo was caught in no-man's land
as Ashton had time and space to pick his spot.
With
five central midfield players available, was it not a curious move
to play a left back out of position?
Up
to now I've been impressed with the way McGhee has gone about
things,
but I strongly believe he got his selection badly wrong for this
match. And we paid an expensive price which saw us slide back down towards the
drop zone.
Written
by:
Nick Turrell
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