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Flying High
Report: (Rotherham 0 - 1 Brighton) |
Mission accomplished! A win at Rotherham was
an absolute necessity and although Coventry let us all down by beating
Derby, our fate is in our own hands, or maybe that of Mickey Adams as he
now takes his Sky Blues to Crewe next Saturday. Anything less than a win
for Crewe means that they go down but if we get a point against Ipswich it
doesn't matter what happens elsewhere. I'm sure that Mickey will fire up
his boys for one last big effort and keep us up . Crewe haven't won since
January 1st, so let's hope they don't finish that run now as Ipswich will
be hoping to win and try to get automatic promotion. If you can't get to
Withdean make sure you're watching Sky Sports and cheer the lads on with
everything you can manage!
The Rotherham game started with Dean Hammond obviously high on confidence,
putting himself about in midfield and giving us a bright start. We had two
early efforts just wide and were largely controlling the play. Even the
Referee seemed on our side for a change with most decisions going our way
and Rotherham offering little in the way of a challenge. After 19 minutes
Chippy floated a free kick in from the left, heads went up and they ball
flew into the net. It was obviously an own goal (from McLaren) but it's
about time that we had a bit of luck on our side and the 2,500 travelling
fans went mad!
Now was the time to try and stretch the lead but the midfield looked a bit
lop sided with Deano, Chippy and Charlie all playing fairly centrally and
just Gary Hart out wide on the right. Dan Harding had his hands full with
their number 21 (Campbell-Ryce) who was easily Rotherham's best player and
the Millers came back into the game. They hit the top of the bar with one
effort but Blayney did everything that was asked of him and El-Abd shone
next to Butters in the heart of the defence. McPhee did get through on his
own but his control was poor and he didn't make anything of a great
chance.
The second half begun with Albion playing towards the masses of fans from
Sussex but it was Rotherham who started the most brightly this time. Two
early headers were scrambled off the line, one acrobatically by Harding,
the other by Charlie but Kerry came on to replace McPhee, Harty went up
front and we looked to have a bit more balance. Campbell-Ryce got less of
the ball now, eventually switched wings and faded out of the game. Leon
got through on his own this time but, as McPhee had earlier, didn't keep
close control of the ball and wasted the chance. We were getting back in
control of the game but play was swinging from end to end and a chance
fell to Hammond who seemed to mis-kick the ball slightly to send it onto a
post. Leon had been working hard and hit a great effort onto the bar from
the edge of the box and then, for the third one on one with the keeper,
Kerry got through but chose to shoot with his right foot (probably the
first time all season that he's kicked it with that one!) but their keeper
saved it. Jake came on for the last 15 minutes but had little chance to
shine. Watches were being closely watched, there was only two minutes of
injury time to add on and, with Kerry eventually keeping the ball down in
the corner we held out for a vital win.
The Rotherham fans streamed onto the pitch for the traditional end of
season invasion and we were suddenly surprised to see Police Horses on the
pitch. It was all good natured though and there was no trouble, just
little time for us to cheer the players off, although not before Mark
McGhee took some extra time to applaud the travelling masses. Roll on
Ipswich!
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Player Ratings |
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Blayney - 8 - always safe and secure,
sign him up for next season! Reid -
8 - good all over performance
El-Abd - 9 - never flustered, always in control
Butters - 8 - did everything he needed to do
Harding - 7 - struggled a little, but never
gave up Hammond - 8 - obviously
high on confidence Carpenter - 7 -
won a lot of balls but created little
Oatway - 6 - the game still seems to be
passing him by Hart - 7 - battled
throughout as usual Knight - 7 -
unlucky not to score McPhee - 6 -
tries hard but looks out of his depth
Subs
Mayo - 7 - made a difference when he came on
Robinson - 6 - little chance to shine |
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Statistics |
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Possession:
Rotherham 44%
Brighton 56%
Shots:
Rotherham 12
Brighton 12
Corners:
Rotherham 9
Brighton 6
Fouls:
Rotherham 17
Brighton 11
Bookings:
Rotherham 1
Brighton 1
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Managers
Comments: (Rotherham) |
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"We made a lot of mistakes in the
back four and we looked vulnerable there.
A set-piece has cost us here, and I have said that
four times in the last four weeks.
"Although we showed real spark in the first half,
in the second half apart from one header we never got started."
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Managers
Comments: (Brighton) |
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"I think the players showed great
patience.
"I was glad they didn't get desperate in the
second half even though we had that goal from the first half.
"I'm desperate to keep this team up. We've got to
believe we can get something off Ipswich and not worry about Coventry
doing us a favour."
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Fans
Comments: (Brighton) |
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Tell
us what you think... Click Here
or
email us at report@bhafc.cjb.net
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Fans
Comments: (Rotherham) |
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Tell
us what you think... Click Here
or
email us at report@bhafc.cjb.net |
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