A VIEW FROM WEST STAND LOWER

21st December 2013

SkyBET Championship

Brighton and Hove Albion (0) 0

Huddersfield Town (0) 0

Attendance: 27,155

League Position: 8th

"Dear Papa Noel,

I have been a good boy this year. I was promoted to a new class and the head teacher likes me. I am very popular in the playground and I have been studying hard.

For Christmas can I have the secret to beating poor teams at home? As a special reward can I have Craig Conway back?

  Los Mejores Deseos,

Oscar"

As the players emerged from the tunnel into the gloom, wind and rain of the Amex in December Ashley Barnes was seen carrying a seasonal sack. In it were a variety of misses as presents for the visiting Huddersfield team ranging from "decent half chance" to my "granny could have knocked that one in!"

As home team pressure mounted in the second half David Lopez put over the latest in a series of tempting crosses.  Barnes, unmarked, rose and met the ball powerfully with a header from deep inside the penalty area. It only had to be on target to give the Albion a richly deserved lead. The net rippled. The West Stand rose as one to celebrate. There was no celebration from the goal scorer, however,  as it became clear Barnes had missed the target entirely and the ball rolling apologetically along the back of the goal was causing the net to ripple. Barnes went into hang dog mode again.

The first time had been on 50 minutes. From another tempting David Lopez cross Agustien headed the  ball back across Smithies who somehow got his left hand to the ball and palmed it into the air towards

The Amex on a dark, wet and windy December afternoon

Barnes who was standing unmarked 5 yards out and only an empty goal to look at. The ball struck Barnes and looped agonisingly over the vacant goal.  Bad miss or did not Barnes have opportunity to adjust his body in time?

In the first half Barnes saw a fine strike from yet another David Lopez cross brilliantly blocked. From a series of yet further fine corners from David Lopez one Huddersfield defender managed to head the ball goalwards for another to hack off the line.

It is tempting to blame Barnes for the Albion's failure yet again to take all the points from limited Amex visitors but nobody else had a worthwhile strike on goal apart from the Agustien header. Ince and Agustien picked out folks sitting in the south stand with wild drives in the first half and Ulloa headed over near the end.

The truth is that if a team is going to play 4-3-3 it needs a central striker who will take the slimmest of half chances and Barnes just needs too many strikes before he can find the target. You also need midfielders who can get up in support of the lone striker and chip in with some goals. Yesterday Oscar played a midfield three who had not managed to score a goal between them all season. Whenever Bridcutt or Ince ventured forward, the more nervous they looked the nearer the penalty area they approached. Clearly having such fine defensive midfielders helps the team harvest away points, but when more creativity is required to unlock teams at home, they are found to be wanting.

No doubt Crofts was given a well deserved rest but he was badly missed. His replacement, Agustien, showed some fine touches in the first half then drifted out of the game, began to give the ball away and was eventually replaced. His best moment came with his header which Smithies palmed away. It deserved to be his opening goal for the Albion.

Without Conway the team looked unbalanced from the outset. Buckley was tried, without success, down the left but contributed little and was substituted to give Ulloa 10 minutes at the end.

Most of the creativity came down the right where Bruno and David Lopez had fine games. Their outstanding contributions deserved better support from their colleagues.

Brezovan was unoccupied for large parts of the game and in the second half could have been served his Christmas dinner without risk of disturbance.

So the Albion finish their home games for the first half of the season in roughly the same place they were last season. This is no mean achievement given the managerial changes and long injury list. 

A strike for the play offs is entirely possible but they cannot just rely on points gathered away from the Amex. The return of Ulloa is going to help and the pace of a fit CMS

Somehow seems appriopriate

would be a bonus but there appears little prospect of that in the near future. They  also need Orlandi's creativity down the left to balance what David Lopez is doing down the other side. They also need Conway back. Once he had settled in he was behind most that was good during his loan spell from Cardiff. He is more reliable that Buckley and more consistent than LuaLua.

In the end credit was due to both teams for trying to play football on a day when the wind swirled, the rain poured, often both at the same time.

So great hope for the second half of the season but fixing the home turf inconsistency is a top priority.

MANAGER WATCH: Oscar remained inscrutable at  Barnes' misses and, as usual, looked lost in own thoughts for large parts of the game. Robins shot out from the shelter of the West Stand several times, waved his arms around and retreated. This must have felt like a victory to him.

REF WATCH: Thank you, Mr. Adcock, for not giving a penalty in the first half when El-Abd appeared to bundle Vaughan over. Was likewise unimpressed when a couple of second half shots appeared to hit the arms of Huddersfield defenders. 

TREATMENT ROOM REVOLVING DOOR: Ulloa now half out and Buckley completely out but for how long?

ALTERNATIVE MAN OF THE MATCH: Strangely Bridcutt was given the sponsor's award but in reality Bruno and David Lopez had outstanding games. Bruno's return to form is most welcome so he gets my award.

This is my final blog of the year as I am away on holiday for the Bournemouth and Reading games. I would like to thank my readers for their encouraging comments and I remain greatly impressed by the number of different countries where it is read. 

I wish you all a Happy Christmas and a successful 2014 with perhaps the play offs as a bonus.