FRUSTRATION

Brighton and Hove Albion(0)1 Birmingham City(0)1
Barnes 84                                   Redmond 69

Once more unto the breach

We are in the last minute of the last added time of the last match of the first season at the Amex. A corner has been awarded. Vicente stands over the ball. Will this be his final kick in a Brighton shirt? Vicente, as expected, delivers a superb corner. Dicker finds space at the edge of the penalty area and meets the ball with power but is unable to control his header and it flies over the cross bar. The Seagulls chance to snatch a deserved last second win disappears but in truth they could have had the game sewn up much earlier had they not, for the third home game in a row, come up against a goalkeeper in fine form.

The new team bus did not look like this in the catalogue

This time it was the Brum City reserve Colin Doyle.  He made two crucial saves. The first came early on when Buckley was found home alone in the penalty area by a wonderful pass from Vicente. Somehow Doyle got down to partially block Buckley's shot but the ball spun up and fell agonisingly inches the wrong side of the cross bar from Buckley's point of view. The second came just after half time when Navarro let fly from outside the penalty area. His low shot looked booked for the corner of the net but Doyle got down again and just managed to deflect the ball around the post.

The Amex is aflame

The boys from Brum had come for one thing - the precious point that would guarantee a play off spot. They defended in depth and robustly when needed. They scored with their first on target shot in the match and managed only one more after that. The goal came from a Brighton corner. For the only time in the game Doyle cleared the ball quickly via a mighty hoof towards the constantly booed Marlon King. Not for the first time this season the Brighton defenders allowed the ball to bounce which gave King the opportunity to shield it and play back to Redmond who planted it low to Brezovan's left. It was hardly deserved but if we had been playing away from home we would have taken it. 

Millon de gracias Vicente

After that the Seagulls poured forward at every opportunity looking for an equaliser. Brum for their part played keep ball whenever they could and gave Doyle plenty of opportunities for time wasting. 

Ashley Barnes was saving his best to last and was having perhaps his best 45 minutes of the season. One minute clearing in his own penalty area the next charging into Brum's. For all his efforts it was fitting he should score after the  best move by either team. A simple lay off by Vicente to Calderon, a cut back and their was Ash coming late into the penalty area in loads of space to pass the ball into the bottom left hand corner of the net.  After several near misses we had managed to pass our way through Brum's 9 man defence. 

On way to the beach via Barnsley

It felt like a win and the players received a very warm reception on their end of season lap of honour. The big question on everybody's lips was "would Vicente be back?" Perhaps the clue was in Tanno's remarks about recruiting more players that are on his wavelength and can link up with him. 


My feeling is that the season was just 6 games to long for us and we ran out of a little bit of puff at the end after a hard physically challenging campaign. Only Buckley and CMS had any real previous experience at this level. We are a work in progress but  have much to build on.

Team Bloom have their trial

It was a happy occasion so I shall gloss over yet another display of inconsistent refereeing and the time wasting he indulged. The ref joined the exclusive club of 3 who have awarded the Seagulls a corner and blown for half or full time before it could be taken.


And finally a word of praise for my darling wife - a born and bred Brummie who for many years supported Aston Villa and Brum City but is now a fully paid up member of Gus's blue and white army. She felt honour had been done for her home town and adopted teams.  We both have added reasons for beating Wolves next season! 


My personal man of the match: ASHLEY BARNES