|
Singing in the Rain
You know its going to be a long day when you are sat eating hot pies for breakfast at around 6:15 a.m. as the coach pulls away from the Turf and by then the mystery injury was no longer a mystery, John McGreal hadn’t travelled because of a calf injury.
That was a worry, was confirmed as the teams were read out around 2:45 p.m. but the good news was a quicker than expected return for Frank Sinclair, himself returning from a calf injury.
Ian Moore and Graham Branch were back but along with McGreal we were without Danny Coyne, Richard Chaplow, Micah Hyde and Jean-Louis Valois as the injury crisis shows no signs of abating.
We hardly started well and in the first ten minutes or so all the action was down the far end as the home side, with some nasty piece of work with one sock rolled down playing up front, too the game to the Clarets.
Worryingly they seemed to be winning far too many free kicks and this gave early concerns that we might be up against a homer referee, it did though prove not to be the case.
They tested Brian Jensen with a lot of balls into the box but he had no problems and made one very good save as a shot that was going nowhere suddenly got a deflection and left the keeper with a lot to do.
We needed to get into the game, Brighton weren’t causing us major problems but we weren’t causing them any – and we did get into the game and how and it still remains a mystery how we didn’t have the game sealed and the points ready for home in the next twenty minutes as we gave the home side a footballing lesson.
It all started with a fine passing move that ended with a Robbie Blake shot being turned out for a corner and the flag kick, taken by Tony Grant, caused them all sorts of problems. Grant found Graham Branch at the near post and his perfect flick was finally hooked clear by the home defence.
Just a couple of minutes later and in an identical move only the woodwork kept the scores level as this time Branchy went for goal himself and headed onto the bar.
It was all Burnley now and Michael Kuipers, not the best goalkeeper ever to play at this level, was scrambling to make saves from Blake, Ian Moore and Lee Roche as the Clarets dominated.
Another corner and another close call and this one was so reminiscent of the second goal against Villa. A short corner, a Grant cross and a Mo Camara header but this time it was the post that came to Brighton’s rescue.
Surely a goal just had to come and in the very next attack Robbie set Mooro up, his header from close range was saved but he hit the rebound hard and low and somehow it was deflected over the bar.
It looked a good block from our vantage point but apparently it was handled by the Brighton defender and should have been a penalty.
|
There’s no doubt that Mark McGhee would have been the happier of the two managers at half time in terms of the 0-0 scoreline, he must have hardly believed his side were still in with a chance.
The second half perhaps proved to be a lot more even but Brighton never really troubled us and when they did get forward they found the Burnley defence, with the two central defenders in superb form, a formidable force.
It was at the other end where the chances were being created and Blake, Roche, Camara and loan man James O’Connor all came close. With just over twenty minutes to go you began to worry that we might just not win this one but we needn’t have.
It came from a corner on the left, again taken by Grant. We won it in the air, there were a couple more touches and it dropped to Robbie on the right of the box and he rifled it into the top corner with a left foot shot.
The snow had turned to heavy rain, the temperatures had dropped significantly but who cared – the Clarets were a goal up.
It was almost 2-0 within a minute as Mo got clear down the left but his shot went just wide of the far post with the Clarets now dominating again.
If there’s a concern we did go on to allow Brighton too much possession but that’s about all they had until the last couple of minutes when twice Jensen came close to presenting them with an equaliser.
He dropped a ball under no pressure whatsoever and presented them with a clear chance which thankfully they failed to take and in their next attack he frighteningly flapped at a ball he should have caught with some ease and it was Grant who was finally able to hook the ball away.
That was it and the three minutes stoppage time were played out without any more alarms and the three points were ours and rightly so.
It was a good team performance and no one played badly at all, but to add to that there were some excellent individual performances.
Robbie played well, Tony Grant had another inspired game in the midfield but I am going to go into the centre of our defence for my man of the match.
Both central defenders were superb, and my vote goes to Frank Sinclair who probably shouldn’t have even played. You wouldn’t have known and only a late harsh booking spoiled his return.
It would not be fair though not to mention his partner Gary Cahill. Having seen the lad play three times now it is becoming difficult to believe he is just eighteen with no first team experience.
He’s had to play with three different partners and yet has looked assured and at Brighton he turned in a near faultless performance. He looks a top player in the making.
Although it is not usual to comment on individual players from the other side it is worth adding that Brighton’s new player, the obnoxious Steve Claridge, looked what he is – a second rate spent force.
Another good away day for the Clarets but just a shame it had to be watched in the appalling conditions offered by the Withdean Stadium. The Brighton club and fans are doing all they can to get permission to build a new stadium at Falmer so they can move out of this place.
So a message for John Prescott – will you get your finger out and sort it please?
After the chorus of ‘Singing in the Rain’ as we left the ground it was back to the warm, dry coach and the long journey home and on that journey home we learned that we had certainly had a better day than some North West fans.
During a short stop en route we met up with some Bolton fans who were returning from Chelsea. Many of them had not seen the game at all because of traffic delays, others had seen no more than 30 minutes – all at a cost of £40 per ticket.
As we chatted about or respective teams the big screen at the motorway services was showing BBC News 24 who were covering the Premiership action of the day. The two sets of fans joined as one to greet the sight of the bottom of the Premiership table with a massive roar.
A perfect end to the day.
The teams were,
Brighton: Michael Kuipers, Paul Reid, Adam Hinshelwood, Guy Butters, Daniel Harding (Kerry Mayo 77), Richard Carpenter, Alexis Nicolas (Gary Hart 74), Charlie Oatway, Leon Knight (Nathan Jones 82), Steve Claridge, Darren Currie. Subs not used: Ben Roberts, Dean Hammond.
Burnley: Brian Jensen, Michael Duff, Gary Cahill, Frank Sinclair, Mo Camara, Lee Roche, James O’Connor, Tony Grant, Graham Branch, Ian Moore, Robbie Blake. Subs not used: Richard Duffy, Paul Scott, Joel Pilkington, Amadou Sanokho, Matt O’Neill.
Referee: Kevin Wright (Cambridgeshire).
Attendance: 6,109.