Brighton 2-0 Brentford: Lots to be happy about at 10pm on Boxing Day
There were plenty of reasons for the 12,000 or so Brighton fans who turned out for the 2-0 win over Brentford to leave the Amex smiling come 10pm on Boxing Day.
Firstly, there was getting to and from the stadium. The extra transport options such as park and ride sites and shuttle buses put on by the club to counter zero trains or normal buses worked brilliantly.
Whether it would have done had the crowd been nearer the 20,000 mark is up for debate, but you can only give credit for what actually happened.
The Albion had things running as smoothly as possible, justifying the no doubt high expense of paying bus drivers and stewards treble time to get people in and out of the Falmer area for the most unacceptable kick off time that Sky Sports have had the nerve to insist upon so far. Football is nothing without fans, my foot.
Next on the happy list was Paul Barber’s programme notes. Having disregarded complaints about the season ticket sharing scheme in THAT letter to the Brighton Independent a week earlier, Barber cut a much more conciliatory tone.
There was no mention of clickbait and no using someone’s first name over and over again. Barber even went so far as to say the scheme was being looked at and reviewed, which is about as close to an admission of “We’ve cocked this one up” as you get from a football club who never, ever admit to getting something wrong.
Maybe there was a visit from the Ghosts of Christmas saying cut the spin and bullshit this year? Whatever the reason, there now seems a decent chance that how season tickets are shared will be changed for 2022-23.
That should help get more fans into the ground to prevent the spectre of a game in “the best league in the world” being watched by barely more supporters than attended Stockport County v Altrincham in the fifth tier on the same day.
Of course, the overriding reason for Boxing Day joy was the football. Brighton 2-0 Brentford was a first win in 12 for the Albion. An unwanted club record of top flight games without a victory may have been set, but the all-time Albion high of 16 recorded in the 1971-72 Division Two relegation season remains intact.
It was the first time that the Albion had won on Boxing Day since a 1-0 Championship success over Queens Park Rangers in 2005. The Seagulls no longer hold the longest December 26th winless run of the 92 Premier and Football League clubs.
Brighton scored from open play at the Amex for the first time since the middle of September. They were two goals of the highest quality as well, Leandro Trossard with a clever lob on the volley and Neal Maupay with a stunner from distance to continue his rich vein of form.
Initially, it looked like another trying 90 minutes might be in store. Adam Webster, Adam Lallana, Alexis Mac Allister and Maupay all returned to the starting line up but the changes meant a disjointed start for the Albion as Brentford dominated the early exchanges.
The Bees had two good chances to take the lead. Ivan Toney forced Dan Burn to clear after beating Robert Sanchez and Shandon Baptiste volleyed over when he should have done better.
One Albion fan described arriving at an eerily quiet Amex 90 minutes before kick off as like being the first one to turn up early at a school disco.
The crowd though began to find their voice, in contrast to the 1-0 defeat against Wolves when the atmosphere resembled a pre-season friendly in Scandinavia… or as former Huddersfield Town manager Lou Macari would argue, a match at Withdean in 2001
As the noise began to climb, so the Albion players responded. Burn put a header over the bar from a Mac Allister corner and Enoch Mwepu placed an effort wastefully wide.
Those two chances involving three players making real impressions having spent most of the season so far on the fringes of the first team were Brighton’s best opportunities until the Seagulls went berserk in the final 10 minutes of the first half.
Mwepu played a brilliant ball over the top of the Bees defence. Trossard timed his run to perfection and without breaking stride, volleyed the ball over the head of advancing Brentford goalkeeper Alvaro Fernandez and into the empty net.
Like London Buses, you wait ages for a goal from open play at the Amex and then another comes along instantly. Seven minutes later and captain Adam Lallana linked up with Jakub Moder to feed Maupay 30 yards out.
The Frenchman advanced a few steps before hitting a scrumptious curler into the top corner to leave Fernandez grasping at thin air.
Maupay refused to celebrate out of respect for Brentford being the club who gave him his big break in English football, even though Brighton now led 2-0 and were flying.
Trossard and Maupay have now scored 68 percent of the Albion’s Premier League goals this season between them. Thinking about where Brighton would be without their now-established front pairing is scary, making the fact that Trossard had to be replaced at half time by the returning Danny Welbeck a worry.
Graham Potter said afterwards that the Vampire of Genk was removed as a precaution after feeling tightness, which in Albion medical terms translates to either he will be back for Chelsea away in midweek or will not be seen again until April having had a leg transplant.
Brentford enjoyed their best spell around the hour mark when Brighton were indebted to Sanchez for keeping them 2-0 ahead thanks to a couple of world class saves.
A Baptiste effort from distance took a deflection on its way through a crowd of players. Sanchez can only have seen it late but he somehow managed to adjust his position and turn the ball over the bar with an outstretched leg for an unorthodox stop.
Ethan Pinnock then leapt like the proverbial salmon to direct a header which looked destined for the bottom corner of the Albion goal. Sanchez though scrambled down to his right to claw the ball away, colliding with the post in the process.
Pinnock had another header kept out late on, this time by some wonderful Marc Cucurella defending. The Spanish left back showed astounding awareness to get back onto the line and out jump Burn, somehow heading the ball up and over the cross bar.
Rarely does a goal line clearance attract much attention in post game analysis, but Cucurella’s effort was so good as to draw praise from Ian Wright.
It helped avoid what might have otherwise been a tense final 10 minutes. Those Sanchez saves and the Cucurella clearance showed that the Albion did not have it all their own way.
Brighton had to dig in to beat Brentford 2-0, showing the sort of fight and incision which had powered them to fourth in the table back in those final days of summer before that barren run of three months without victory.
That winning feeling is back. And whilst the Albion players involved enjoy the sizable bonus Tony Bloom no doubt offered to get one over his arch rival Matthew Benham, Potter’s job now is to ensure it is not another 11 games before Brighton win again.
It feels good when football makes you happy.
