Match Review – Brighton 1-1 Huddersfield Town
Oh what might have been. For all the soul searching after Brighton and Hove Albion were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Huddersfield Town the simple fact is this – had we have been able to finish two of the simplest one-on-one chances you will ever see and had Shane Duffy not suffered a moment of complete gimpery, then we’d be sitting here talking about a 3-0 win.
Let’s start with those one-on-ones. The first of those came to Davy Propper inside of a minute. Released by a perfectly weighted ball over the top from Ezequiel Schelotto, the Dutch midfielder was clean through on goal and straight down the middle to boot, yet somehow he contrived to put the ball the wrong side of the post with only Jonas Lossl to beat.
The second occurred inside of the final 10 minutes when Leonardo Ulloa played a delight through ball to send Jose Izquierdo away. Sometimes when Izquierdo has the ball at his feet he resembles Road Runner from the Looney Tunes cartoons in that he just sticks his head down and runs in whatever direction he is facing as quickly as possible. He’d done it once already in the first half when he sprinted the ball straight out of play for a goal kick and it was the same with the one-on-one as he ran straight down the middle and straight into Lossl. All he had to do was either take a shot before he reached the Terrier’s number one or step either side of the goalkeeper but he didn’t and Lossl then did well to tip Schelotto’s follow up over the bar.
It was a busy afternoon for Lossl, especially in the second half when he was frequently called into the action, making his best save when tipping over a distance drive from Dale Stephens – turns out he wasn’t poisoned in Salisbury after all but really did have a “minor hamstring problem” that had kept him out for a month.
Lossl’s showing in the second 45 made up for the fact that he was largely at fault for the Albion’s opener. Solly March justified his recall to the starting line up at the expense of Jurgen Locadia by cutting inside from the right and hitting a shot towards the bottom corner from the edge of the box. It looked a weak effort which Lossl really should have got down to as it crept goalwards but he was too late and only succeeded in diving past the ball meaning his head was in prime position to divert the shot into the back of the net once it had come off the post. Goal line technology confirmed what even Stevie Wonder could see and that was that the ball was so far over the line it was practically in Rottingdean.
Lossl’s claim for cock up of the day lasted all of 60 seconds before Duffy decided to take the mantle for himself. In a move you’d expect from pissed up defender in Sussex Sunday League Division 3, the Irishman decided it would be a good idea to play a completely blind pass back towards his own goal. Unsurprisingly, this wasn’t a good idea as he gave the ball straight to the feet of Steve Mouine who needed no second invitation to round Ryan and equalise.
You can’t say that Duffy cock up hadn’t been coming either. Before the goal, Duffy and Dunk must have either given the ball away or sent it needlessly out of play more times than they’d managed to find a team mate. It was a problem not just confined to the defence – Chris Hughton’s half time team talk could quite feasibly have consisted of merely teaching his players what a blue and white striped shirt looked like and it would have led to a vast improvement.
The last 15 minutes were made slightly more challenging for the Albion when Propper received a straight red card when he slid in on Jonathan Hogg. In real time at the Amex, it looked that the referee had got the decision right as Propper slid in with studs up but watching it back there is every argument that it was a harsh decision. Either way, he now misses the next three games which means an instant recall to the side for Beram Kayal for the small matter of next weeks trip to Crystal Palace.
That game at Selhurst Park becomes even bigger now. For all the bed wetting that followed “only” drawing at home with Huddersfield, the point actually moved us seven clear of Southampton in the final relegation spot. We are eight clear of Stoke who only have 12 points left to play for so barring a complete miracle, the Potters aren’t finishing above us. It means we only need to find one more side to finish ahead of to guarantee Premier League football for next season – and a victory next week would pretty much ensure Palace aren’t overtaking us either.
Securing Premier League survival at Selhurst Park? Wouldn’t that be nice.
