Right, there’s no Crocs On Tour page for this one, so I’m actually going to be bothered to write a match report, as it was one of the best games I’ve seen in a long time.

However, if you really can’t be arsed to read on, there are two things you need to know:

1) Scott McGleish is a w***er
2) So was the referee – Steve Cook.

Basically, after a funny first few minutes, we battered them in the first half. Murray scored early on, taking advantage of Orient keeper Jamie Jones’ mistake when he failed to control a backpass on a bobbly pitch. Murray cooly dummied to shoot, and then put the ball in the empty net.

From memory, the next big event was Murrayvolleying home a Dickinson cross in similar fashion to his first against Southampton in November. Unfortunately though, Murray was controversially ruled offside, as he so often is. I’m not convinced about that myself though, and nor were the majority of the Albion faithful.

Elphick went close with a scuffed volley, before the big moment of the match. After half an hour or so of decisions which appeared to be in favour of the home side, Dickinson, through on goal, was blatently pushed over by the Orient defender, 6 yards out. Penalty. Red Card. I saw it. Poyet saw it. The whole stadium saw it. But the “cheating ****” of a ref ruled otherwise. Presumably, Gus told the ref he was indeed a “cheating ****”, and was sent to the stands as a result. Please let us know if you can remember the last Albion manager to be sent off. I certainly can’t.

Anyway, funnily enough for the remainder of the half the ref started giving things our way; an indication that he knew he’d ballsed up. Before the break, Elphick and Crofts went close, but we went in 1-0 up in the break, leaving supporters wondering if we’d be made to pay for our missed chances.

Of course we were. Shortly after the re-start, Scott McGleish, who I’m sure you know has a bit of history with Brighton fans, managed to scuff home the rebound from a free kick given away by Kuipers in similar fashion to our goal. Unlike Jones though, Kuipers managed to fall over when receiving the backpass, and then clawed the ball away with his hands. Error. Naturally, after “Scotty Mac” had bundled the ball home, he duly turned his shirt around, milking the celebrations in front of the away supporters who have been abusing him for the last 13 years. Bastard.

After that, most of our threat was coming through Murray, who forced a good save from Jones. But then for some reason Poyet decided to bring Murray off for Hart. Now, in a scrappy game, on a dodgy pitch with a good atmosphere and a controversial ref, it was the sort of game Hart usually revels in. No objection there. But taking Murray off, when Dickinson seemed to have knackered himself out and was doing nothing in the second half, proved a poor decision. After that, Albion lacked any real threat, with Dickinson failing to get near a couple of decent trademark Hart crosses. One chance opened up for Bennett, but Jones unfortunately pulled off a blinding save to his left.

And that was it. The game fizzled out, as for some reason we decided to accept a point and played for time in a rather negative fashion. A bit of a sour note then.

Poyet was understandably fuming, and made it clear in his post match interview. If you haven’t heard it already, you can listen on youtube here. Basically, he’s pretty pissed off. But what’s most interesting is his comments about Nicky Forster’s transfer request. I might be wrong, but it sounds to me like Gus is fuming at Forster, suggesting the players who played against Orient “really care about the football club”, inferring Forster doesn’t. I hope this doesn’t mean our number 9 is on his way out. 14 goals this season is a great return, and with us slipping back into the relegation zone on Saturday, we could do without losing one of our best players.

Still, it was a cracking game to watch, just a shame we couldn’t get the 3 points. Hopefully that’ll chance on Tuesday night, but with the game against Huddersfield being at Withdean, I’m not holding my breath. Especially given the 7 they’ve already put past us this season!