Absolute pandemonium when Luke Murphy stabbed home the 93rd minute winner after a good headed layoff from the towering Matt Smith, who had come on as a sub late on. Everyone going mental in the sun, no Ken Bates, no ridiculous ticket prices and in general a very optimistic feeling around the place. The atmosphere hasn't been like this for a while and I think this is what ultmately won us the game.
In terms of play, did we deserve it, as Brian Mc said in his interview, we would have been unlucky to lose the game, however we were up against a very technically competent Brighton side whose manager believes that why make one pass when you can make 36 to do the same thing. It's funny to watch his keeper, obviously under instruction, trying to play deft dead balls out from his box. He just refused to punt it long. Admirable tactics but like John Barnes found out with his Tranmere team some players at this level can't handle 'pure football', and that's the problem with Brighton, trying to play it on the deck, keeping possession at every opportunity but ultimately it only takes one mistake, one miscontrol, one wayward pass and the opposition is in. So my advice for the moleskin trousers and sports jacket wearing Brighton manager Oscar would be .... get real, don't abandon your beliefs but play to the strength of your players some of which have never seen Johan Cruyff play. On to the match, the first 20 minutes Brighton did look like Holland 1978, as we really struggled to get into the game. I was trying hard to work out what formation we were playing. Varney on the left, Hunt on the right with Macca in the hole behind them. Then in midfield, Tonge on the right, Green sitting deep in front of the back 4 and Murphy on the left. It wasn't working and we were treated to long aimless balls from our ineffective captain up the line to nobody. We couldn't string 2 passes together and I was thinking that this is the same shite we've been served up season after season. Brighton, on the other hand, were comfortable on the ball and looked like the team that nearly got promotion last time out. They had too much time on the ball and looking around our team I was asking who are our ball winners, who is getting stuck in ? Paul Green was but the others seemed a very static and pedestrian and struggled to pick up the Brighton runners. It was no surprise when they took the lead. Paddy Kenny had just made a good save to deny a shot from the lively Brighton no 11 but just after a simple ball was played into the box, where the gangly Brighton striker took one touch and shot into the net. Very weak defending from Tom Lees. The crowd remained positive and to our credit we started to play. Tonge started to get on the ball and we started to move it around neatly without threatening much. Murphy showed some neat touches and also a couple of shots which showed he's not afraid to go for goal. Varney's pace caused a few problems but as always with him his final ball was disappointing. The player for me though that stood out was Green who was everywhere, winning tackles and starting moves and also making runs. Brighton were seeing less and less of the ball and we were getting on top. We then equalised. I'm not sure whether it was Hunt or Tonge who did brilliantly to cross the ball to Macca, who took it down well, drew the defender and slotted home with his left foot. Good goal. We then took control as Macca looked to get on the ball at every opportunity , it was good to see that we'd reduced a confident passing team to virtually nothing. Murphy, Hunt and Varney all had great chances but they came to nothing. Towards the end of the first half the players from both sides started to tire which led to end to end stuff without an real threat. 1-1 at half time was fair. If you removed the last 30 seconds of the second half I'd say it was a poor second half. I think a lot of players were struggling for fitness in the heat. Luke Murphy looked out on his feet at times and Warnock looked like an old man. Brighton also looked knackered and their goal scorer spent most of the second half jostling with Pearce and feigning injury. Paddy Kenny kept us in it with 2 high class saves. The first was an incredible double save. The first he parried straight to a Brighton player who only had to side foot home but Kenny recovered brilliantly to block. This really was a top class save leaving the Brighton player with his head in his hands. Then as Brighton looked to win the game a great cross was swung in finding an unmarked Brighton player 6 yards out, he powered his header towards the back of the net. Kenny managed to dive with his body behind the line but his arms outstretched to keep the ball level with line. A superb save. The game was frequently interrupted by injury and incident allowing both teams to take on water. It was almost as if the two teams were having time outs. Both teams brought on 3 subs and this was the difference. The Brighton subs made little difference, in fact they were probably weaker than the players who made way. On the other hand, our subs made a significant difference. Poleon with his pace and enthusiasm unsettled Brighton and he had a couple of good efforts. Smith also made a big impact. He won his headers looked ok on the ground and made the winner. He looks awkward as all big guys do but I think he's got a massive role to play this year. When the board for 4 minutes injury time went up I thought we had a chance but most of the time the play was down our end as we kept giving them possession through stupid free-kicks. In the final minute Smith was fouled defending in his own box. We quickly got the ball up the pitch, Smith rose and headed accurately into the path of the advancing Murphy who controlled the ball (with his arm ??) and stabbed it towards the goal. I think the keeper made a meal of it but it ended up in the back of the net. Pandemonium in the stands. Brilliant. You could see what it meant to everyone especially Murphy who to be honest had been completely ineffective in the second half. One last thing, the ref, I thought he was superb. Scores on the doors: Kenny - 10. One poor pass into touch but he won us the game more than any other player. I have criticised him in the past but let's face facts, he's just a bloody good keeper. Peltier - 6. I can't see how this guy is captain. He's just not captain material. This wasn't his worse game and in fact there was a lot of good especially going forward at times, however his defending at times is ropey and he just seems to go missing. Big concern for me. Warnock - 6. Effective but very pedestrian at times. Looks like an old man. Pearce -7 I thought he battled well all day and did a great job of winding their goal scorer up. A limited footballer with limited pace but could do a job this season. Lees - 6. I was disappointed with him in the first half especially the goal but he improved. Green - 8. A superb, all action performance. Tackling, passing, runs , defending. He was everywhere. He should have scored late on when the ball came to him unmarked in the box but he ballooned over. Hope he can stay Injury free. Tonge - 7. For me this could have been his best performance in a white shirt. He looked commanding on the ball, he showed composure, he made a goal and he looked pretty fit. Impressed. Murphy - 7. I have to admit if he hadn't have scored the goal late on I was going to give him a bit of a slating because of his second half performance where not only did he look woefully short on fitness he just didn't contribute. At one point Kenny was pointing to him to make a run so he could make a run, but Murphy just ignored him. He was knackered. But he must have had enough in his engine to make that final run and slot it away. He was lively first half and looks like he could be a decent player. McCormack - 7. Great goal, very lively. I think the manager moved him from playing in the whole to up front alone to out on the left. I do get frustrated with him at times because he is a good layer but often his final ball is over or under hit. Also, he lacks a bit of sharpness at times. Hunt - 6. Was lively second half and made some good runs and held the ball up well. Second half it didn't really happen for hi and he was subbed. Pedestrian. Varney - 6. His pace caused problems but there was no end product. Has a role to play but I would much prefer to play Poleon. Subs: Poleon - 7. Very lively and harried them. When you're feeling tired you don't want Poleon running at you. Smith - 7. Massive impact.liked his awareness. He's no donkey. A great day. Already had one bottle of red (Italian) , now on to my favourite - French Sent from my iPad _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected] MARCHING ON TOGETHER
