A VIEW FROM WEST STAND LOWER

SkyBET Championship

31st August 2013

Brighton and Hove Albion (0)1
Ulloa 89

Millwall (0)1
Woolford 51

Attendance: 26,804 (Amex high for season and highest in Championship on the day)

League Position: 13th

Millwall presented Oscar with a challenge not unknown to his predecessor. What to do about a team that sets out to defend in depth, foul often and early, delay all dead ball starts and generally frustrate the flow of the game?

It was a relfection of Millwall's plight that they are resorting to such tactics so early in the season. Their team of has-beens and never-will-bes look like relegation fodder. It has to be said the Albion looked pretty clueless about what to do in response to Millwall's tactics for an hour and it

was only the introduction of Orlandi and LuaLua that created the drive and urgency that eventually brought Brighton back in to the game.

A combination of the visitor's negativity and the Albion's inability to respond led to the worst first half seen so far at the Amex. A drive over the bar by Agustien and a header into the arms of Kuszczak were all the first half had to offer.

It got worse immediately after half time when the old Albion habit of nodding off which cost them dearly against Derby and nearly so at Birmingham reappeared. The visitors worked the ball down the pitch and a Chaplow cross found Woolford unmarked on the left and he calmly slotted the ball past Kusczcak.

For the final half hour it was mostly attack v defence. LuaLua's arrival for the patchy Lopez on 57 minutes sparked the Albion. Within a minute 2 LuaLua thunderbolts were deflected away. Orlandi became more and more influential and was providing the previously missing creativity. He drifted past a couple of defenders only to see his goal-bound shot spectacularly turned over by Forde. A Crofts' shot missed by a whisker and the Albion looked to have equalised when Ulloa headed in an Orlandi free kick. The ref saw a push not that obvious to anybody else and disallowed it.

But the Albion were not to be denied and on 89 minutes Ulloa turned in a LuaLua cross for his 4th goal of the season. In the 5 added minutes, some of which must have been for the timewasting, the Albion nearly won the game when Orlandi, this time down the right, turned and nearly bent the ball around the stranded Forde.

Millwall were eventually made to play for their negative tactics. Dunne had been booked in the first half for time wasting and on 75 minutes brought Orlandi down on the edge of the penalty area and was duly dismissed.  

So a draw in a game the Albion should have won but so nearly lost! 

The last 2 games have been progress and, at best, this was a marking time game. The Albion are much dependent on Ulloa for the goals and the loss of CMS until at least November is a big blow. This game cried out for his pace as Shittu must  be the most lumbering

centre back in the division. Lopez has yet to find last season's consistency and Buckley remains a worry - contributing little to this game. Ward and Agustein do not look 100% fit and it was interesting what Oscar had to say about player fitness after the game.

On the positive side it was good to see Orlandi back and in form immediately, LuaLua is creating more problems on the wing than Buckley at present and Andrew's last 20 minutes showed why we need him in the team from the outset. 

With the transfer window closing on Monday the Albion must be on the lookout for a striker. However, as a club that quite rightly takes the FFP rules seriously, I guess this is proving difficult.  I also wonder if Oscar is not looking for a defender as well. So far his Spanish connections have not produced a flow of players. Fans would not say no to couple of blokes from Barcelona!

MAGIC MOMENT: Orlandi drifting past a couple of challenges and producing a shot which Forde just managed to turn over the bar.

REF WATCH: Mr. Madley failed to clamp down early enough on the time wasting and persistent foul play. Disallowed a goal for a push which would have gone unoticed anywhere else on the pitch. Overall pretty inept. 

UNOTICED MOMENT: The Albion bench was clearly watching replays of the game on an iPad and the Spanish coach's frustrated flick of the hand after the Ulloa disallowed attempt was very Latin.

MANAGER WATCH: Oscar wore last week's lucky suit and maintained the Chelsea manager look. He has a shake of the head in response

to bad referring decisions a bit like a father censoring an errant son. Steve Lomas must have longed for his  West Ham academy of soccer days as he attempts to make a silk purse from a sow's ear.

ALTERNATIVE MAN OF THE MATCH: I know Ulloa gets the stadium award every week but my personal nomination is ANDREA ORLANDI. He provided the pace, penetration and creativity so desperately missing in the first half. Unlucky not to score and was behind most of what was good in the second half.