Brighton really are tinpot, attendance 6200 We got more against MK/Argyle and we're a smaller club

We looked in complete control of the game up until the sending off, Brighton offered very little and looked a shadow of themselves from last year (I'm including the league game in that review). They hardly pressed when we had 10 men till the last 15 minutes either. It certainly wasn't backs to the wall stuff ala Barnsley on Saturday. Felt like their only option was for one of the CBs to angle a straightish ball in towards Murray who would try and flick it on.

The sending off was interesting, I though blackett got the ball then just lost his footing. Rather than intentionally going in hard. Naturally number 12 played up to it and cried on the floor for 2 minutes before sprinting back onto the pitch.

Swift really is a sublime footballer. You wonder if he had a bit more pace, and concentration at times if he would have been snapped up by a PL team. We will be lucky to keep him if he keeps this form up IMO.

Watson looked solid again, looks to be a great back up/ future first team RB.

I thought Mendes looked good in the second half, he burned himself out towards the end but made some powerful runs, held the ball up and set Quinn off down the right which led to the Swift goal. His shooting looks a bit girly at the moment is my only negative.

Other than that solid performance from the boys again 7/10 for most of them. Il echo what I said on BFTG Barnsley - We have a team this year. The sending offs and holding on to win will only strengthen it.

Despite what Beagrie and Nicholas say?

Despite what Beagrie and Nicholas say?
Are they the Sky pundits slagging us off? 7 unbeaten, 5 in the league.. I'm not paying much attention to them

I don't think we will win the league, or even come close. But I think the foundations are a lot more solid, no loanees who don't care about the club, purely players who want to play for us this year.

good to hear that Watson continues to impress,and that Kelly looked good again. and that mendes might not be a complete chump.
good run out for the back up players, amazing to win with that back 4 at the end.
im becoming more and more impressed with stam and this team.

Despite what Beagrie and Nicholas say?
Are they the Sky pundits slagging us off? 7 unbeaten, 5 in the league.. I'm not paying much attention to them

I don't think we will win the league, or even come close. But I think the foundations are a lot more solid, no loanees who don't care about the club, purely players who want to play for us this year.

I don't think either slagged us off really. Just the newspaper making a story out of nothing.

half of our own fans have bee saying much the same as them for most of the season tbf

That will be the season that's just started?

Morons who expect instant success proved wrong shocker.

That will be the season that's just started?
Didn't think it needed 'so far' at the end

Despite living in Brighton, due to shoulder surgery I had to resort to BBC Sussex commentary.

The commentator said 'yet again Norwood fails to meet the first man' at least 10 times in the second half.

Oh how smug the Albion fans when they got him

They could have read pretty much any match thread for the second half of last season and we'd have been saying the exact same thing. Of course the BHA lot dismissed it as us being bitter and that they'd bought one of the best midfielders in the Championship.

Shock.

Official website got it wrong shocker.

Have Preston playing Man.Utd on Sky with draw for next round after match.



Oh dear..................................

Preston, Northampton, tomato, tomatoe

Good result even though the outcome is that we now miss McCleary and Blackett for Saturday's game with Huddersfield.
The good news is that our 2nd team and back-up players look better than Brighton's-on looking at the 2 line-ups they had 2 regulars only (Murray and Baldock) and we arguably only had 2 in Moore and Blackett.
No comment from LWJ about Samuel-how did he do before going off (injured or tactical?)

RFC are looking at whether they can appeal the referee's decision yesterday. General opinion from the radio was that the ref was pretty appalling for both teams in waving cards about for nothing and letting other stuff go.

Tactical - straight after the sending off for Gravernbach to shore things up.

A good performance all round I think: special mentions to Watson who looked comfortable throughout, Jakkola who made some very good and important saves towards the end when we were under the cosh and of course Swift who needs no introduction.

Also, oxf*rd me - how bad was the beer in the stands?! I started on the lager which was awful then had to move to ale which was flat, luke warm and gave me the shakes! Worst I've ever tasted!

Anonymous. I can't remember much of his performance.

Just what the actual fukk is going on?!?!

3 away wins in a row, unbeaten in 7 including 5 wins out of the last 6. This is strange.

I thought were pretty damn good yesterday in the first half. There were a couple of moments of nervousness and miscommunication but for the most part we were comfortable and dominant. Some of our play was excellent and despite a much changed side the link up play was very good. The movement was so much more noticeable.

Then came the red card which I thought was harsh. Same as Barnsley I'd file under it under "seen them given" but felt a yellow would have sufficed especially considering their initial challenge. On the referee, I thought he was truly abysmal. So quick to blow up in favour of them and yet reluctant to do so for us. Indeed one of the biggest cheers of the night was when he brandished a yellow for one of their players cynically bringing us down when he could have and should have done so at least twice previously.

As for Brighton they largely untroubled us though with the amount of balls they were pumping into the box towards the end and with Murray on the pitch you always worried they'd knick it. I was mightly relieved to see Norwood on set piece duty as we all know first hand how utterly useless he is, tame shots free kicks, corners that hit the first man, or free kicks floated to the back post. Their best player on the night was Elvish Manu (no.19) and although Watson coped with him fairly well I was still fairly surprised yet happy to see him go off. How they gave MOM to Baldock over him (or the ref) I don't know.

We were fantastic and everyone put such a shift in. Poor old Mendes ran himself into the ground but he'd be the only negative for me. All he has is raw strength and running. He's not fit enough, not intelligent enough and his finishing is awful. It was frustrating at the end when the balls just kept coming back and he was walking but you could see how dead he was. He kept trying though and I'll applaud that.

Well done to the fans that travelled and I felt we really helped get the team over the line the last 5 or so minutes.
There really feels like a more togetherness this season and especially between the fans and the players.

Bit harsh to criticise someone who's had barely a game this season then is told to run the line and close down on his own with ten men for being a bit knackered towards the end. Most other accounts I've seen have praised him.

He might not be all that yet but if he is prepared to put in a shift like that then surely he has the raw materials that can be worked on?

I remember one of the the last players we had who was criticised for being all raw strength and running. He is now scoring goals regularly for West Ham.

I was just saying it how I saw it. I'm not writing him off but I commented on what I saw yesterday and what I've seen of him this season.

Maybe if you actually went to the game then you could form an opinion yourself rather than criticising others based on other people's 'accounts'.

What a bitter bunch of schoolkids they are on NSC; and WTF does that banner mean on their web site: 'Were Loose'?????? Or are they just a bunch of apostrophe-cunts?

Anyway, great result against a team - or rather their fans - that I am beginning to loathe more than the Shits and the Jerkies.

Do you think Stam was right to keep Mendes on and take Samuel off for Gravenberch, or do you think, in hindsight, it might have been better the other way round?

Mendes obviously has more strength and physical presence, but I'd hope Samuel is fitter and my impression is he'd have offered more goal threat. No opinion either way here, just curious for your view.

We won - Stam was right - end of.

All up for the Stampede !!

It's difficult to say. I was initially surprised when he took off Samuel instead under the same reasoning, but also worth considering Samuel hasn't had a full 90 in some time I don't think. That being said I was also surprised Samuel was playing on the left with Mendes up front through the middle as I thought the latter played on the left for a lot of last season.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and we will never know if Samuel would have had more stamina and could have been more effective in the latter stages. At one stage Mendes broke free, ran to the corner and about 20 feet away got tackled and lost the ball tamely.

You'd have to say given the final result it was probably the right decision and I suppose Stam sees more of Samuel's/Mendes' fitness to make that judgment. I think anyone bar Shane Long would have struggled up front yesterday but you could see how knackered he was.

So basically the short answer is... I don't know.

It's difficult to say. I was initially surprised when he took off Samuel instead under the same reasoning, but also worth considering Samuel hasn't had a full 90 in some time I don't think. That being said I was also surprised Samuel was playing on the left with Mendes up front through the middle as I thought the latter played on the left for a lot of last season.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and we will never know if Samuel would have had more stamina and could have been more effective in the latter stages. At one stage Mendes broke free, ran to the corner and about 20 feet away got tackled and lost the ball tamely.

You'd have to say given the final result it was probably the right decision and I suppose Stam sees more of Samuel's/Mendes' fitness to make that judgment. I think anyone bar Shane Long would have struggled up front yesterday but you could see how knackered he was.

So basically the short answer is... I don't know.
Ta, I don't know isn't a bad answer.

My first live game since the Arsenal Semi-Final.

Very impressed. Completely controlled everything iup until the sending off (which i thought was justified) and even then Brighton weren't in it until the second half.
I like the posession game, controlling the tempo, waiting for an opportunity to move it up the field. Players dropping deeper looking for the ball, wanting to be involved. It was great to watch and we looked threatening when we did release forwards too.
Swift was outstanding, setting the rhythm for the team throughout the first half along with Kelly who impressed me. Quinn was great through the second half, getting stuck in, putting his head/foot in where necassary. Anssi Jaakkola mad some smart stops too and looked comfortable enough with the ball at his feet too.
Watson had a tough time with Manu but coped in the most part. Would love to be able to make more games, but as this was on my way home from work it was an opportunity not to miss, especially as i blagged a lift to the ground with an Albion supporting colleague

Had seats in hospitality so a decent beer and food for me. Thought we looked really good before the sending off and were really controlling the game excluding Quinn's moment of madness passing back to Jaakola (I miss the beard) without looking and giving the ball straight to Baldock.

At half time I expected them to come out flying and really put pressure on us to stop us playing. They didn't, the Brighton players really didn't look like they gave a shit. Then even after Swift's goal they didn't really cause us any pressure. Once they eventually found a way through they couldn't go through the gears quick enough to cause us problems and get an equaliser, although from where I was sat they had a fairly good shout for a penalty when Gravenberch went through the back of one of their players.

I nearly got kicked out hospitality after both my dad and I jumped up surrounded by Brighton to celebrate the second goal. Awkward with so few in the ground.

Stat of the game: Brighton's starting 11 had more appearances for Reading than the Reading squad combined.

That will be the season that's just started?
Didn't think it needed 'so far' at the end

Any season, ever, would probably work.

It sounds as though our future is bright with our youngsters coming through, emphasised by the under 23 result v Chelsea earlier in the week too.

As for the Fannies of Eastbourne, I think the penny is starting to drop that they may have a half decent starting eleven but their squad seriously lacks depth, and take a couple of first teamers out and they are bang average and wont be good enough to finish top six this season. Blew their best chance for years last season. It is also sad to see Sidders' Sussex retirement, was a great player in his prime.