Brighton 1-0 Aston Villa: Albion reward fans who turned up at Amex

Regular WAB readers will know this website has long held a fascination with the Albion announcing the number of “tickets sold” as the matchday attendance figure at the Amex rather than physical people through the turnstiles. Brighton 1-0 Aston Villa proved to be one of the best prettendances yet.

“This afternoon’s crowd is 31,596,” revealed Richard Reynolds to a stadium which was a little over three-quarters full. The crowd bursting into collective laughter, drowning out Reynolds adding “Thank you for fantastic support,” told its own story.

Thousands of season ticket holders put their seats up for sale on the ticket exchange, hardly any of which sold. It would have been a different story if supporters were able to share their ticket with friends or family without any cost, but that is another article/clickbait for another time.

The lack of interest reflected the Albion being winless for six games, having only managed to score one Premier League goal of their own since the start of March and Roberto De Zerbi saying the players were “lacking motivation” with the season petering out into nothingness.

Attending therefore felt more of a chore than a privilege before kick off. Like driving 100 miles to visit a great aunt for the afternoon, something you had to do out of duty and loyalty rather than because it was going to be fun.

Yet by the time the final whistle blew, those who had turned up were rewarded with a goal and a win which adds renewed impetus going into the final three games of the season.

De Zerbi opted for experience to take on a Villa side who could have guaranteed Champions League football with a win. Out went Odel Offiah, Valentin Barco and Mark O’Mahony and in came Joel Veltman, Adam Webster and Danny Welbeck.

Webster in particular was superb, ensuring that Ollie Watkins hardly had a sniff. At the other end, Villa had goalkeeper Robin Olsen to thank for ensuring it only finished 1-0 to Brighton.

Villa understandably appeared jaded after their Europa Conference semi final first leg defeat to Olympiacos on Thursday night.

But Brighton still deserve a huge amount of credit for the way they nullified an outfit who hammered them 6-1 at Villa Park back in September.

For much of the first half, the thousands who stayed away did not miss anything. Your correspondent spent a good 20 minutes of it discussing travel plans for watching England at the Euros this summer (hit me up if you are staying in Wuppertal), during which nothing seemed to happen on the pitch.

The only real clear cut chance arrived in injury time when Olsen made a fine save with an outstretched leg from Pascal Gross.

Villa came into the game more after the break without ever threatening Bart Verbruggen. What really sparked proceedings into life was the introduction of Julio Enciso from the bench on the hour mark.

Within minutes, Olsen was forced into another excellent stop. The lively Simon Adingra put Joao Pedro in one-on-one. Pedro shot low and hard, only for Olsen to spread himself and somehow keep Pedro’s powerful drive out with a ridiculously strong hand.

Enciso fired over before Gross put the ball in the back of the net from a low Igor Julio cross. From dead inline sat in the West Upper, it looked a clear offside. The assistant referee had the same view, so it seemed a mystery at the time why he did not flag it.

Watching back the VAR check, however, and it was actually very marginal. Did the assistant not give it himself because he knew VAR was there to back him up?

If that were the case, then it highlights another consequence of technology in football; decision makers are no longer making decisions.

The boot was on the other foot when John McGinn beat Verbruggen on 78 minutes, only for the assistant to flag straight away. VAR checked and backed up the on field decision, leaving the game goalless entering the final 10.

When Welbeck then produced a lovely looping header which dropped just the wrong side of the post, it looked like the long wait for Brighton to score was going to go on.

That was until the 88th minute when Adingra burst into the box, where he was clipped from behind by Ezri Konsa for a penalty.

Olsen became the first and only of 11 goalkeepers who have faced a Pedro spot kick this season to save from the Brazilian.

Not that it mattered, Pedro reacting quickest to head the rebound home for his 20th goal of the campaign and make it Brighton 1-0 Aston Villa.

Turns out an afternoon at the Amex was much more fun than visiting a great aunt.