#afcb 2 v 1 #htfc

There's a phrase that goes along the lines of "after the Lord Mayor's show" which means after such splendour, you have people following behind cleaning up the horseshit

As such, after the Liverpool game, if I'd had a shovel watching tonight, my roses would be blossoming beautifully

Howe had decided to give Huddersfield the perfect spying DVD by naming the same team / formation as played in front of the nation on Saturday

The worse news though was that the heavens had started to open and the pitch, especially by the dugouts, looked like Tom Daley would have felt more at home than a 'baller

The game started and Grabban quickly showed how important he was going to be to the team by chasing down lost causes and harrying their defence

In the first 5 minutes he caused enough panic to gain Bournemouth 2 corners and a throw in and it was the second corner that gave the home side their first sniff of goal

An excellent delivery from Ritchie caused mayhem in the middle of the box and Smithles was forced into a brilliant point blank save from close in and as the ball ricocheted out to Arter he crashed the ball at goal only for the keeper to pull off an even better save

Already more shots on goal than we had on Saturday ....:-)

Huddersfield were not here just to make up the numbers though and as early as the 7th minute they showed how dangerous they were by swiftly breaking down the right and as Ward met the cross with a glancing header we were all expecting the net to billow, only to see the ball just go wide

Phew

On 13 minutes Daniels was forced off with injury, replaced by Harte which was bad news for Pugh - he was really going to have to step up without his pacey partner

Bournemouth were still on the front foot and on 18 minutes they almost put converted that pressure into a goal

Another Grabban earned corner was well punched out high into the air. As the ball dropped, Ritchie ran in, controlled and moved the ball to the left in one move then absolutely smashed the ball into the right corner and somehow the keeper tipped it round the post. Bravo I say, through gritted teeth

In the past I have criticised the fitness trainer, but today I feel I should mention the nutritionist

The guy is just not doing his job. How could he send the team out so dehydrated? Surely that is the only reason why the whole team was seemingly mesmerised by the swimming pool "oasis" by the dugouts?

After all, if we want to play the ball on the ground the last thing you would head towards is quicksand so apart from being thirsty, why the bloody hell did we keep going over there?

For me it was just a real headloss moment and it affected their whole game for rest of the half.

If they weren't trying to run through the quagmire they were trying to thread passes through the eye of a needle

We are guilty of this when conditions are good so to do it when conditions are appalling just boggles the mind

Poor choices made / passing even had the team fighting amongst themselves as Ritchie gave Elphick a rocket for giving him a hospital pass right at the back - this didn't bode well and despite a low Francis shot towards the end of the half it was yet another tale of final third worries

Half Time 0-0

The first minute of the second half saw Grabban's excellent run finally matched with a decent ball and he was through on the right. Cutting back he crossed the ball to the far post and Pugh chested it down and volleyed the ball.......just wide of the right post - bugger

Unbelievably after spending all their time in the first half on the right, they spent the second on the left to obviously work on their backstrokes

On 53 minutes, though, they finally broke free of the swamp and Pugh was put through on the left. As he ran into the box Smith put his arm round him and down he went

It wasn't the biggest of contacts and if it had happened walking down the road you'd be disappointed if it caused you to fall over - but rules are rules - penalty

Howe and Tindall again sat on Pitman which have Grabban the time to coolly slot the ball to the left as the keeper dived right 1-0

Five minutes later and euphoria turned to despair

Francis, more and more isolated on the right as Ritchie kept coming infield and not covering back found himself with 2 attackers bearing down on him

Try as he might a swift 1-2 had Woods fly past him and smash the ball past Camp. One sight at goal, one shot, one goal 1-1

The game should then have come to life but instead went into its shell. More tippy tappy play from Bournemouth before the inevitable missed pass was frustrating both players and fans alike

Rantie came on for Surman with 22 minutes left on the clock and no-one could have expected him to make the impact he did

Just 3 minutes after he came on O'Kane picked up the ball and ran at the defence. As the defenders backed away 7500 fans shouted "Shoot for fu@#s sake" as he passed the ball

Just as I thought the vein in my forehead was going to burst I realised that the ball had actually gone to a Bournemouth player, and that player was Rantie

On he ran and scuffed the ball to the keeper's right. We all watched in disbelief as the ball slowly rolled in slow motion towards the post.

As the post was struck and the ball rebounded into the goal the shriek of relief Rantie gave could only be heard by wolves, but the noise the crowd made had the whole of Poole looking up startled

He'd finally scored 2-1

The remaining 19 minutes were a dull affair of not much happening (apart from some very dubious Francis decision making ) which was turned on its head in the inexplicably long 5 minutes of injury time

First of all a long ball from the right saw Ward on the 6 yard box only to put the bouncing ball wide.

Then in the last minute Rantie rushed through one on one and having beaten the keeper he just needed to roll it in. Unfortunately he'd been rooming with Pugh so in fact he doubled back, beat him again, beat a defender, beat the keeper again then air shot as the goal gaped

I hope that didn't undo the good work of the goal beforehand.....

Final Score : 2-1

Summary : We have played much better than this and got nothing - so on the whole the feeling I have is that of gratitude

Still way too many poor final balls or passes in general but conditions did very much play a part in that

It was  game where I really couldn't see where a goal was coming from as Grabban was isolated far too often and it was only when the formation was changed and he had support up front that we finally scored at home from open play

Star Man - A panel decision (thanks Steve) - the groundsmen - gave a 110℅ and never let conditions get the better of them

East Stand

HuHuddersfield Away Support

Main Stand

South Stand

#afcb 0 v 2 #lfc

These  are days to cherish

Yes I get that it isn't as important as when we stayed in the league or got promoted but those on twitter this week scoffing at this being a big game can shove it where the sun doesn't shine

No-one has the right to make anyone feel bad about looking forward to playing Liverpool and I for one was very much looking forward to the Premiership circus coming to town

It is, after all, a distraction from the real deal of the league - but what a distraction

Then came the team news. I went through it thinking who they've rested for the game and came up with...no-one. This was a full strength team from those available and with Suarez and Sturridge up front - GULP !!!

The ground was a sell out, the noise was immense and the game kicked off with Bournemouth on the front foot

In the first minute Grabban was denied as he ran through and from the corner Surman just headed wide

The NS even had a few extra songs to sing and despite what they said, there's no way a dentist could earn more than a Premiership striker .... :-)

Across the pitch Bournemouth were matching Liverpool man for man with the noticeable exception of Moses who, rather like his namesake, seemed to be able to part the defence at will and gave Francis a torrid time

Bournemouth were having a lot of possession but like so many games this year at home the final ball was either poor or plain unnecessary as a shot would have been the better option

In this opening exchange the closest Bournemouth came to scoring was an over-hit free kick that Jones had to tip over but to show their dominance it took 25 minutes for Liverpool to mount their first real threat on goal

The difference was, though, that this one chance resulted in a goal

A Suarez break down the right had him crossing low to Moses on the left. He controlled the ball, cut inside and coolly rolled the ball into the near post, from just outside the box.

No smashing the ball, just a calm pass to the place in the goal Camp wasn't covering . A classy finish where an extra bloody pass didn't even cross his mind : 0-1

To my amazement both the team and the crowd then just carried on as if nothing had happened. The crowd were loud,the team pressed forward

Both Arter and Pugh went close before an overhead kick from Pugh sent Daniels scuttling forward and his low cross was hit by Surman and just as I thought the net might billow Skrtel slid in and blocked the shot

On 37 minutes Daniels almost gifted Liverpool a second as he inexplicably chested a high ball back into the Bournemouth box from a high ball but luckily for us Henderson's centre of gravity is in his forehead so as he leant back there was only one place the ball was going - and I hope it caught Andy Townsend square in the chops

The last 5 minutes it again was all Bournemouth but yet again we just refused to shoot or crossed the ball to an empty box.

The analogy I draw is that Liverpool attack like a rapier - quick and accurate, while we attack like a feather duster - pretty enough but no cutting edge whatsoever

Half Time 0-1

The second half started as the first ended with Bournemouth having all of the possession but when Liverpool got the ball, you just felt more would happen

On 55 minutes a clash of heads had Skrtel bandaged in black very much the photo negative of Paul Ince for England when Gazza described him as a pint of Guinness

If only Rooney had thought of that - he could have save himself a fortune in hair transplants.....

While he was off the pitch Bournemouth really tried to make their extra man count with Grabban bursting through and having his shot (yes I did say shot) blocked and Elphick's header from the corner just went wide

Gerrard tried to waste some time to allow him to get back and even a shrill "do you know who I am" didn't stop him being carded

On 59 minutes a dubious half way free kick "earned" by Suarez had Sturridge through one on one and unlike our goal shy attack, he coolly slotted it into the bottom left corner.

Two clear cut chances, two goals. No fuss, no indecision, no doubt where the ball was going: 0-2

At this point the Liverpool fans finally woke up but they were quickly drowned out by the quite frankly superb home support

Pitman, Fraser and Rantie were all then thrown on but to be quite honest it was all too late

Liverpool, for the last 15 minutes showed how a team should take the sting out of a game. Bournemouth were chasing shadows and when they did get the ball, all the fantastic build up play in the world could not make up for the lack of finishing prowess

Saying that, Grsbban did have a stinging out step shot brilliantly saved late on , so at least Jones got to dirty his gloves

Had Sturridge's lob, when put through, not landed on the bar and Suarez's lob, when put though, not hit the top of the stadium the score could have been so undeservedly flattering but still it finished 0-2

I say finished, but I'd be a fool not to mention Pitman's cameo in injury time.

Running on to the ball in the penalty box, he crashed to the floor, surely a penalty? Not given - was it because we always get shit refs,or was it because there was no-one within 5 yards of him and in fact he managed to trip over s divot in the pitch - I'll let you be the judge....

Summary - Although I have relatively few chances to mention, in just about every department Bournemouth matched a full strength Liverpool.

With the exception of Arter, who even now I'm not sure was actually on the pitch, every player played as well as they could.

We went with the usual lone front man and boy Grabban's breath must be bad because until the last 15 minutes, no-one from his own team went within 20 yards of him

Again it's not a criticism of the players (Arter excluded) but of the system. The fewer chances we create, the less players want to take the responsibility of shooting, and with fewer shots, fewer goals.

it's not rocket science and it needs sorting

No disgrace in losing today - we gave a very good account of ourselves but in fairness the cup upset never looked on the cards from the moment the first goal was scored

Star Man - O'Kane - Bloody hell Eunan - why did you have to play like that on the TV :-)

east Stand

Main Stand

South Stand

#afcb 1 v 1 #watfordfc

The day started, I'd like to say well, but I'm just not sure

The news was that after a roller coaster of a week, we find out that Grabban's agent has played an absolute blinder

He'd touted his boy all over the championship and earned a lovely commission by moving him absolutely bloody nowhere

You've got to say it's genius - I just hope the extra money and general shenanigans (thank you Mr O) wasn't going to be a dressing room disruption

Heaven knows the Liverpool game might be messing with their minds they really didn't need any more of a circus

With the coin tossing expertise of England cricket captain Cook, the boys were turned around to boos from all stands

The opening 10 minutes were an even affair as the slightly more "robust" Watford looked to nullify the AFCB passing game

The first chances came in rapid succession just after the opening exchange when first Arter had a thunderous shot blocked but straight from the clearance Watford absolutely flew up the other end and despite Ritchie trying to bring the move to an *ahem abrupt end the ball still got to Deeney and a collective sigh of relief came as his shot went wide

Ritchie was booked for his efforts

I did however very much enjoy Ireney's throw the toys out of the pram, slam the floor, petulant tantrum as he believed himself to be fouled

Good to see the best of Italy come from the dressing room and on to pitch

We then had a 15 minute of stats-breaking passage of play, which to be fair was repeated through out the game

The records now show that in those 15 minutes, AFCB made 19,345 completed passes, moving the ball a mind boggling 3,759,276 yards, of which 4 yards were forward.

Not since a wet evening in Crawley under the master tactician Groves have we seen such a lack of penetration

Just like Bolton and Birmingham, one up front where the midfield don't support that lonely, sad striker against 2 banks of 4 just doesn't work

Hundreds of passes almost always ends in either an attempted ball through the eye of a needle that fails or, for that 1 in 10 that actually works, a shooting opportunity presents itself annnnd we pass it to someone else - usually the opposition

This isn't an indictment on the players. For me they are all (mostly) playing out of their skins and punching way above their weight. It's about the tactics. I think they are spot on for away games but at home we need to be the ones taking the initiative

We can't break down teams that sit back with 1 up front and for some reason we are scared witless to shoot from range

Maybe this fear was the reason that when Pugh was actually played through on 35 minutes, he blazed so badly over - there was, after all, no one to pass to, to take that responsibility

Then, as was written in the stars, a Watford free kick in first half injury time was met emphatically by  Angella and his towering header crashed into the top right of the goal, giving Camp no chance

Most of the possession, most of the "opportunities" yet half time came and Bournemouth were 0-1 down

The second half started with a Ritchie snap shot going just wide but Watford came right back into the game with a mixture of fast breaks when they had the ball and award winning falls and pretend injuries when they didn't have the ball

It was during Battocchio's Olivier Award winning performance (he must have been tweezing pubes to get those tears) that AFCB broke forward and Daniels had a pile driver of a shot blocked at the last second on 57 minutes

A minute later and it was all square

This time it was Grabban that burst through and under challenge, over he went.

The ref gave a goal kick but the lino was either having a fit or he'd seen something

Being behind the north stand goal I'll have to admit that his view was better than mine, but nevertheless I smiled when not only was a penalty given, but Angella was given a straight red

Without Pitman on the pitch to take EVERYTHING it was down to Grabban and as Almunia dived to the left, he coolly slotted the ball to the right, low and into the corner: 1-1

From then it was all Bournemouth, pinning Watford back and allowing them only the occasional, still very dangerous, counter attack

On 70 minutes all of that pressure seemed to bear fruit

A defence splitting pass sent Pugh through and instead of smashing the ball into the gaping net he decided to round the keeper

Again, I'm a long way away from the action, but , it looked like as Pugh went past, he left a trailing leg out and hit the deck like the yellow smoke bomb, that was to follow, had struck him on the back of the head like it had been fired from a cannon

The ref had a decision to make - book Pugh for diving or send Almunia off for a last man foul tackle

He came up with a compromise of still giving a penalty, but just giving the keeper a yellow

This was to prove key as Almunia stepped up to not only save Grabban's weedy keeper height friendly shot but then miraculously save two further follow up shots that left the away fans exultant and the home fans holding their heads in disbelief

It didn't end there though as Watford just couldn't get out of their own half. Rantie and Pitman had come on for Surman and Pugh and this had greatly improved our mobility (through Rantie) and greed (through Pitman)

With just a minute of normal time left Grabban sprinted through on the left and cut the ball back

In rushed Ritchie and absolutely smashed the ball at the goal and hit the only man on the line squad in the face. Anywhere else and it was a goal - so unlucky

In injury time both Elphick and Camp almost f###ed it all up with 2 of the most hideous arrogant passes you will ever see but as Watford were sat so far back, the rest of the defence was able to cover up

Final Score 1-1

Summary : Every player is trying his absolute best. Fact . But another fact is that we failed to win, at home, against a 10 man team having been given 2 penalties

We lack a cutting edge, we have always lacked a cutting edge and at home against 2 banks of 4, we are playing the wrong formation - or possibly the right formation, but with the wrong players

Midfield need to be up with the striker in attack, and helping the defenders when under pressure. We are doing the latter, but are not doing the former anywhere near often enough

This is especially evident when Grabban collects the ball wide and looks to crops the ball to...to...to...bugger, an empty box

Star Man - O'Kane again is running the show. Arter must be wondering what this guy has for breakfast

North Stand

Main Stand

East Stand

Away Fans

South Stand

#afcb 4 v 1 #bafc

Burton fans must love coming down to Bournemouth- 2 trips and both times it's bloody poured down. Still at least this trip was free .....

I was nervous for this game - to use the old cliché it had banana skin written all over it - a lower league team, a windy, rainy night and the pot of gold that is Liverpool so agonisingly close

My nervousness wasn't helped by the quantity of "strange faces" (as my mum would say) which inevitably led to a distinct lack of atmosphere as newbies struggled with the lyrical complexities of the vast array of Bournemouth chants

This quietness was in stark contrast to the way AFCB started where they quickly imposed their pace and tenacity on the game which created chances for Arter and Pugh in the first minute but the first was blocked while the second dribbled wide

Then on 4 minutes the thing we all wanted actually happened - we got an early goal!!!

Ritchie on the left hand side floated a lovely ball with the out step of his boot to the far post and in slid Pitman to slam it into the unguarded net : 1-0

Burton were shell shocked as AFCB were quicker to every ball and it looked like this could have been an Australian (not English) cricket score

Even Pitman was running around and after his sliding tackle in the middle of the park you could clearly see that as well as realising that he'd had to pull his finger out of his ar$e he also needed to retrieve most of his shorts (ooo cheeky)

As an aside, while we talk of shorts, I would like to officially dispel the rumours that their number 4 was the fattest player seen at DC since the good ship Addison sailed into dock. In fact his HUGE shorts were housing several Bulgarians who, for a price, will be fixing the plumbing problems of the Boscombe area for the foreseeable future

But, as chances fell for Daniels and Ritchie, the Burton boys shook the fog from their frazzled minds and got themselves organised into 2 banks of 4 - something that AFCB have struggled in the past to break down

They even had a couple of chances - with Rocky having to make a fine 1 on 1 save after 10 minutes being the best of these opportunities

Still we poured forward though with huge success down both left and right

Rantie was still getting poor service though with lots of aimless high balls but when Pitman back heeled the ball to Daniels on 17 minutes he looked up to see Rantie on his own and so played him in perfectly, only for the shot to be scuffed wide

Rantie tried to make amends 10 minutes later by cutting in from the left and belting the ball to the right of the goal only for the keeper to push wide - just part of a string of fine saves this young keeper made

On 32 minutes Ritchie proved the ground was harder than it looked despite the rain by cannoning a 10 yard shot onto the ground from the middle of the box and saw the shot bounce hopelessly over the bar

All this pressure, no, I'll amend that to possession as play had slowed considerably in an ode to Groves, but still no 2nd goal - what could possibly happen next I wonder....?

That's right, a long, aimless shot from Phillips from a rare Burton attack was wickedly deflected, sending Rocky the wrong way and giving Burton a lifeline: 1-1

This gave Burton some hope and some dreadful Allsop indecision when coming out for the ball almost gifted them the second but this time the young keeper got away with it - that's the difference between the Championship and League 2

Despite being unbelievably ponderous and constantly losing the ball through lack of forward movement and trying to thread the ball through the eye of a needle, because of the pace of the team the ball was always quickly retrieved and chances were still being created

Just before half time Daniels jumped onto his white steed and charged through the whole team before thumping a shot to the keeper's near post which he did well to save

From that resulting corner the ball was eventually crossed low just 2 feet from the goal line and Elphick got the slightest of touches at the near post to send the ball in at the far post : 2-1 and thank God for that

At half time I overheard an expert pundit say that we never do well when we score early and that we do much better when we score before half time - I didn't have the heart to say that we' d done both...

The second half was only 5 minutes old when the impressive (today) Francis ran past the left back as if he wasn't there and his low cross was perfectly met by Pugh, who was so unlucky to see his clean strike come off the post

Fraser came on for Ritchie after just 55 minutes and we all prayed that this was a tactical decision rather than any injury problem

This substitution almost had an immediate effect as it was his run that drew 2 defenders away to allow Rantie to pass to the unmarked Pitman 20 yards out. For once, a Bournemouth player took a shot first time (smelling salts please) and again the keeper was just too good, diving to his left

Pitman then missed a sitter in the middle of the box as he completely air shot and Pugh had another fierce shot well saved before AFCB had a narrow escape as the ball was crossed right across the goal line and nobody reacted

Thank goodness Burton didn't have a natural goal poacher like Wes Thomas......

On 74 minutes Surman came on for Pugh, effectively ending our play down the left as neither Surman nor Pitman fancied the idea of being shouted out by the spirited Burton fans

With 9 minutes to go Rocky dropped a corner on his own goal line but managed to retrieve the situation - Camp must be quaking in his boots

Then the master stroke - Grabban came on for Rantie and within seconds he proved that he is head, shoulders (and possibly knees and toes) our best striker

His anticipation, his runs into space ( not where someone has just run) and his ability to hold the ball up before bringing others into the game must have made both Rantie and Pitman weep into their hot milk tonight

This got even better just 2 minutes later as the ball was cleared and between 2 defenders he collected the ball and ran into space

Seeing Pitman free he played the simple ball to him and Pitman threaded the ball to the on rushing Fraser

No defender was going to catch him and as the keeper came out he coolly dinked the ball over him to make it a crowd relieving 3-1

It got better / more flattering still with 3 minutes left as an unstoppable Grabban was scythed down in the area for a penalty

As Pitman had insisted on taking everything from goal kicks to the toss of the coin it was no surprise that he demanded and was given the ball

Unlike the numerous free kicks that went woefully wide or into the wall, from 12 yards he was irresistible and he planted the ball into the bottom right corner for 4-1

Grabban almost capped off his cameo performance with a shot that struck the post after a mazy run but in the end Bournemouth had to "settle" for 4 (haha)

Summary: Good energy to retrieve the ball but way way too slow going forward. Every game we have had at home where teams have sat back we have struggled to break them down and it comes as no surprise that the last two late goals came as a result of Burton pushing forward to get an equaliser

There were also too many passes that Ronaldo could not have made and against better sides (ie for the rest of the season / cup run) this will not be good enough

That said, I thought O'Kane was again imperious in the middle and Grabban showed why other teams at taking note. Yes we did create a lot of chances and in fairness never looked like losing but until we figure out how to use the pace we have in the team to unlock these well drilled defences I feel we are still a couple of players short, if we are to show real ambition

Star Man : Francis - he needed this game to regain some of his confidence and showed what a threat he can provide when he is on his game

Away Fans

North Stand

South Stand

Main Stand

East Stand

#BHAFC 1 v 1 #AFCB

It was New Year's Day and I'd had a skin full last night so I was almost not looking forward to a journey to Brighton ... almost...

A friendly seagull @SeagullSimon offered good advice re the park and ride and pre-match beer and so it was I found myself soaking wet in Dick's Bar

You can make your own jokes up at this point...

Still a lovely Steak pie and Sussex Ale raised spirits high and off to the stands

I was then subjected to a humiliating (lovely) frisk by a gorgeous young female steward

I casually said "bomb" under my breath to warrant a more thorough search but she'd heard it all before and sent me away

I then partook in a Breakfast Pie, full to the brim with beans, sausage, bacon, scrambled egg and tomato and if I were composing a pie league it would have gone straight to the top

The game started and within minutes we saw what was to become a real pattern

A long ball forward over the defence had Ulloa through on goal and but for a last ditch challenge by Ward the Camp goal would have been under threat

In fact all game Brighton deployed this tactic, particularly over Francis' head who was regularly rinsed by Lualua

I'm not sure if this has gone out to all teams but Francis versus pace is no contest and the amount of attacks that came down the Brighton left was almost embarrassing

On 9 minutes AFCB had their first let off as a long range shot went under the diving Camp but the ball still hit his body enough to be deflected onto the post and clear

Just think, if Camp had had one less helping of Xmas Pud it would have gone in - thank you baby Jesus .....

AFCB then started to get some semblance of possession and on 13 minutes they turned the game on it's head

Arter picked up the ball on the half way line and after a strong run put Pugh through on the left

Pugh touched the ball forward as the defender came over and seemed to take him out - penalty!!

Up stepped Grabban and as the keeper dived to the right, he put he ball to the left and put AFCB 0-1 up

On 15 minutes an O'Kane shot was drilled to Grabban who span and had his shot blocked - but from this Brighton broke

They streamed forward and again  Ulloa was through and this time Camp had to be at his best to save at his near post - it was a real end to end match

On 21 minutes Lualua, having terrorised Francis down the left decided to cut inside and Camp made another brilliant save diving to his left

With the space we were giving Brighton - surely it was just a matter of time

The next AFCB chance fell to Pugh as he cut in from the left and fired wide but the next key moment happened on 29 minutes as Surman was upended in the box but no penalty was given

To be fair we hadn't got a decision since the penalty and so it came as no real surprise - a ref that bottles it - well I never ...

Arter got his usual yellow on 30 minutes for a trademark lunge so we all knew it was tightrope time for him - maybe he should be subbed for his own good ?

Pressure was all from Brighton now with AFCB hitting on the break but there wasn't a clear cut chance until the injury tine of the first half

The 500th ball went over Francis' head and Ulloa controlled it well, then smashed it from close range as Camp charged out

Miraculously the ball struck him and looped over the bar

Maybe this was to be our day

Half Time 0-1

Grabban had the first chance of the second half with a stinging near post shot an from then, as AFCB went with the hitting on the break tactic, lots of niggley fouls were committed by Brighton

Despite being the dominant side, at the back they struggled to cope with pace and so regularly "took one for the team" - without getting punished

For the first time ever both sets of fans could join together in a mutual dislike for the ref

On 56 minutes the outstanding Lualua again cut in from the left and crashed the ball at the apex of bar and post with Camp soundly beaten

They were doing everything but score

In the space of 4 minutes from 58 minutes both Grabban and Daniels were cynically taken out when bearing down on goal and despite actually getting the decisions (ironic cheers) we could do nothing with the free kicks

In fact, even in free play most of our brilliant wing play went awry as there was no-one in the box

This really must be addressed

Camp made his next in a string of outstanding saves on 79 minutes saving a header from point blank range and we were all starting to believe ....

Arter and Fraser even had a couple of half chances saved to raise the already loud voices of the away supporters - shame the home support all seemed to be suffering throat infections...

To be honest this was just the next in a series of outstanding stadiums I've visited where the fans were so quiet - I really don't get why

With 2 minutes to go, we finally heard that the Amex COULD create a wall of noise

Five minutes of constant pressure had the ball slung into the AFCB box time and again and finally, despite having 3 distinct chances to clear the ball, it was crossed back in and Ward headed home

Even with this, Camp got a hand to it but it was just too powerful

Oh dear, I thought - or words to that effect .....

It could have been worse too as they had a header rebound off the bar before Camp made another excellent close range save

At least the park and ride journey wasn't going to be too tortuous :-) (although I wouldn't want to do that for every home game)

Summary - At home, we were the better side, at their place it was them and we can consider ourselves lucky to have not been soundly beaten - today Brighton were very good

That said, we showed some real character and class in patches but unlike what Bolton did to us, we were unable to land that final sucker punch

Hopefully we will be able to strengthen in January to turn this good build up play into points on the board by having someone to actually connect with the ample supply of crosses we provide

Star Man : Camp - sign him up pleeeaaase !!!