Match Review: Brighton 3-1 Crystal Palace
Since the Amex opened in 2011, there have been many great occasions at the fabulous stadium. The first game against Doncaster Rovers which was packed with late, late drama. The St Patricks Day Massacre. Winning promotion to the Premier League at home to Wigan Athletic. Defeating Manchester United to secure Premier League survival.
But none of those comes close to what we witnessed when Crystal Palace came to town. Hammering your arch rivals despite playing for over an hour with 10 men is the stuff dreams are made of. It’s no stretch to suggest that it was the greatest occasions for many of us in our Albion supporting lives. The hangover we’re still trying to shake off over 24 hours later is testament to that.
Where did it all go so right? It helped that Palace were abysmal. Roy Hodgson said in the build up to the game that he doubted whether his side would be able to put in the same quality of performance that they had in their weekend win over Burnley and he was right. On paper, there isn’t much between the two squads but for 90 minutes there was a huge gulf in class between those in blue and white and those in yellow.
Palace fans have been eager to point the blame at referee Kevin Friend but really that is just sour grapes. While the award of the first penalty may have been harsh, Mr Friend then missed an even clearer spot kick when he ironically awarded a corner from which Leon Balogun scored with his first touch.
It wasn’t Mr Friend’s fault that Palace couldn’t take advantage of playing for over an hour with an extra man. It wasn’t Mr Friend’s fault that the marking was shocking as Balogun fired home the second. It wasn’t Mr Friend’s fault that not one Palace player put a tackle on Florin Andone as he ran from the halfway line with the ball to score the third. It wasn’t Mr Friend’s fault that Wilfried Zaha got lost in Lewis Dunk’s pocket.
At the end of the day, Brighton simply wanted it more than Palace. That is inexcusable in a derby game as we know only too well given some of our horror shows against the Eagles down the years, so rather than point the finger of blame at the referee, Palace fans should probably start by questioning just why their players looked so nonplussed about the occasion. Maybe they should start throwing some pies at their players, as one Albion supporter did to Zaha?
Murray gave the Albion the lead in the 24th minute, sending his spot kick in off the crossbar. The award looked harsh on Palace as Jose Izquierdo tumbled under the challenge of James McArthur. The pressure on the penalty taker was huge with 2,500 baying Palace fans who once worshipped Murray stationed behind Wayne Hennessey’s goal. That he scored with such aplomb says everything about the class of the bloke and once again he didn’t celebrate, this now being his third goal in four games against the Eagles since his return to the Albion.
Just four minutes later and Shane Duffy did one of the stupidest things you’ll see in a derby game, deciding to headbutt Patrick van Aanholt right in front of Mr Friend. Duffy was seemingly incensed that a terrible challenge from James Tomkins which actually ended Murray’s evening had not resulted in another spot kick and so took his anger out on the Palace defender. Still, at least he’d get to Molly Malone’s earlier than expected.
Pascal Gross was immediately withdrawn and on came Balogun, who remarkably scored within 60 seconds of his introduction with a thumping volley. Things got even better on the stroke of half time, Andone who had by now replaced Murray chasing down a lost cause clearance and doing brilliantly to harry Tomkins into a mistake after running from inside his own half with the ball, taking full advantage to fire low and hard past Hennessey.
That’s two in two now for the Romanian striker who already looks like an absolute steal for £5m. His performance here was reminiscent of a more classy version of Craig Mackail-Smith, a whirlwind of running but without the headless chicken element that came with the once-record signing from Peterborough United.
It’s mad to think that just one month ago we were all fretting about how bad things would be without Murray after he suffered a concussion away at Newcastle United. Based on his last two appearances, Andone can offer a real alternative to the veteran having already done more in one-and-a-bit games than Jurgen Locadia has managed in nearly a year at the Amex.
Andone isn’t the only player we could spend paragraphs heaping praise on. Dunk was colossus in dealing with the threat of Zaha who got so frustrated by the experience that he ended up stamping on any players who got in his way. Classy guy.
Balogun was brilliant and Duffy should have a fight on his hands to regain his spot once his three game suspension is over. Davy Propper ran the game in midfield and that allowed Yves Bissouma to have his best game in an Albion shirt so far, bursting forward and making more tackles than anybody else on the pitch. His performances so far had left some doubts about the defensive side of his game but based on this showing, we shouldn’t have too much to worry about in that regard.
Bernardo made one superb goal line block and Maty Ryan only had one save to make all evening before he was beaten by Luka Milivojevic’s 81st minute penalty after Zaha had gone down under a Balogun challenge. Palace offered no real threat after that lifeline and in truth this was probably the most comfortable victory against a side with a numerical advantage that you are ever likely to see.
The result lifts the Albion up into 10th, just a point behind Everton who fill the last European spot. More pertinent than worrying about how we’re all going to afford trips to Belarus or Kazakhstan in the Europa League next season is the fact that we’re already over halfway to 40 points. In a season in which it looks like as little as 35 points might keep you up, we’re nearly at the safety mark already.
Of course, things can change very quickly in football and a run of games which includes a trip to the 18th century at Burnley at the weekend, Chelsea at home, Plucky Little Bournemouth away and then the visits of Arsenal and Everton to the Amex could change everything, but right now it feels like a brilliant time to be an Albion fan.
After all, if you can’t enjoy beating your arch rivals with only 10 men, then you might as well give up.
