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 !!!
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