A VIEW FROM WEST STAND LOWER

SkyBET Championship

7th December 2013

Brighton and Hove Albion (2)3
Barnes 9 and 77(pen)
Conway 28

Leicester City (0)1
King 64

Attendance: 27,497 
League Position: 10th

Harold Wilson once said a week in politics is a long time. Well, in football 4 days is a hell of a long time. Everything that was wrong about the abysmal performance against Barnsley was attended to as the Albion turned in the first half display of the season to beat the League leaders.

Ince's return made a big difference. His height, long legs and physical presence made it difficult for Leicester to cut the Albion apart down the middle in the way Barnsley had done. David Lopez's mojo returned, Bruno was outstanding and Conway was a constant menace to the visitor's

lumbering defence. To be truthful nobody had a bad game and this was truly a team victory. The exact opposite to Tuesday night.

The early omens were not good. Kusczcak was injured in the warm up and Greer limped off early on to be replaced by El-Abd. Nothing was to deter the Albion as they took the lead after 9 minutes. David Lopez collected the ball as a Leicester attack broke down and hit a fine pass across the visitor's goal to the unmarked Barnes who had the easiest task to knock the ball beyond the exposed Schmeichel. 

If that pass from David Lopez took the breath away, it was to be excelled in the 28th minute when he hit a even better pass across a greater distance to the on-rushing Conway who chested the ball down and slotted it pass the on-rushing Schmeichel.

Apart from the odd Leicester sortie, the Albion dominated the first half and were well worth the 2 goal interval lead. Leicester were not top of the League by accident and they came out for the second half looking as if they meant business. The former Albion midfielder, Dean Hammond, was replaced by Knockaert to give the visitors width on both sides of the pitch. Their pace and rapid passing in midfield impressed but the Albion dug a trench on the edge of their penalty area which the visitors rarely penetrated. 

They did get back into the game on 64 minutes when the unmarked King headed in a free kick from

Knockaert. Matters may have gotten worse a few minutes later had not Brezovan flicked over the crossbar a header from Taylor-Fletcher.

Despite this the Albion had control of the game and it was Leicester who were being forced to press up field and this proved their undoing on 77 minutes. A fine pass from Bruno put Conway away down the left, he easily evaded a tackle and put over a tempting cross to  Barnes who had found space in front of Morgan. The cental defender pushed Barnes off the ball for an obvious penalty which Barnes smashed down the centre of the goal. 

The post match Amex buzz returned. Defeat to the League's bottom team followed by victory over the top team summed up the Albion's inconsistent season. They now lie 3 points out of the play offs and with injured players returning a top 6 place remains a real possibility if they can recover last year's consistency. 

I am not sure many Albion fans realised this was Conway's final home game before his return to Cardiff. I hope his lap of honor at the end, applauding the supporters, is not the last we see of him. Over recent weeks he has been the Albion's most consistent player and more reliable then the constantly injured Buckley and the hit and miss Lua Lua.

TREATMENT ROOM REVOLVING DOOR: Greer and Kusczcak in to join Orlandi, CMS, Hoskins, Buckley and Ulloa but Andrews and LuaLua out.

MANAGER WATCH: Oscar retured to the finely cut suit with a pullover the only concession to the December weather. Nigel Pearson remained seated no doubt fearing last season's collapse in form of his expensive collection of players would be repeated.

MAGIC MOMENT: An honourable mention for Crofts 40 yard shot which nearly caught Schmeichel out but the award must go to David Lopez for the passes which set up goals for Barnes and Conway. He

was the difference between the teams when it came to creating chances.

REF WATCH: Not often the ref gets booed off after a victory but Mr. Madley's inconsistency was very frustrating. He booked Wasilewski early on for chopping down Conway and the defender committed similar offences in the second half when facing LuaLua but remained on the pitch. In contrast Crofts and LuaLua were booked for pretty mild first offences.

ALTERNATE MAN OF THE MATCH: Barnes received the stadium award for his brace but my award goes to Brezovan. He probably thought his days in goal for the Albion were over apart from the odd development squad appearance. But with Casper injured he was plunged into the limelight with only 10 minutes warning and performed very competently. His handling was without blemish and he dealt well with a range of long distance shots and pulled off fine saves from Taylor-Fletcher and King when the visitors were at their most threatening.