Match Review: Bristol Rovers 1-2 Brighton
It seemed apt that on the day that Bury were left to die after 134 years by the Football League, Brighton were back playing in the sort of environment that many of us grew up watching the Seagulls in.
Thanks to Tony Bloom’s millions, the Albion are embarking on a third season of Premier League football. We’ve got a squad that cost close to £100m to put together, play in a stadium which was another £100m outlay and have a training ground which is worth around the same amount. The figures are mind boggling.
It hasn’t always been this way though and the Carabao Cup visit to League One Bristol Rovers was a stark reminder of that. 10 years ago, the Memorial Stadium with its assortment of mismatched stands, its terraces and its smell of burgers and bovril was the sort of venue we’d spend our weekends watching some pretty inept footballers do some pretty inept things.
In April 2009, we went there needing three points to have any hope of avoiding relegation into League Two. Lloyd Owusu and Calvin Andrew got the goals in a 2-1 win, arguably the most important victory in Russell Slade’s great escape.
One of the most infamous goals in Brighton history came against Rovers in October 1995. Sneaky George Parris had hidden behind visiting goalkeeper Andy Collett and when he dropped the ball thinking he had all the time in the world, Parris cheekily appeared from behind, tackling Collett and rolling the ball into the empty net.
When Parris scored that, we were homeless. Bill Archer had sold the Goldstone Ground to developers in an attempt to pocket the profits from a club he had every intention of driving out of business. We might be cocooned within the richest league in the world these days, but 22 years ago what has happened to Bury could have happened to us.
That unscrupulous owners are still being allowed to carry out attempted murder on centuries old institutions two decades on is nothing short of a disgrace.
After the Albion’s brush with death, countless other clubs have come close to becoming extinct on the Football League’s watch. Doncaster Rovers. Hull City. Chester City. Wrexham. Blackpool. Coventry City. Bolton Wanderers could well join Bury in the football club cemetery in the next 14 days.
But as long as the money keeps rolling in, the Football League don’t care. They’ll do nothing to stop corrupt and asset stripping owners, happily allowing clubs to die while counting their silver. They are the Harold Shipman of sporting governing bodies.
They care even less about fans than they do clubs. That’s why the draw for this competition two seasons ago took place at 4am in the morning, just so Carabao could host it in the far East. Sod the supporters of the teams who actually take part, as long as an energy drink manufacturer from Thailand is happy.
When the Football League treat everyone bar those who pay with such contempt, it’s little wonder hardly anyone takes this competition seriously. Would anyone have been bothered if Glenn Murray hadn’t popped up with an injury time winner and Rovers had gone onto win it on penalties?
Graham Potter probably wouldn’t. The Albion boss made 11 changes from Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to Southampton, including handing full debuts to Aaron Connolly and Steve Alzate. And despite this effectively being Potter’s second string, it was still a lineup which cost around £56m to put together.
That’s 30 times more than Rovers have spent in their entire 136 year history and a fraction of what Bury owed before their demise, which just goes to illustrate the disparity between the Premier League and the rest.
£35m of that had been spent on two players – Adam Webster and Alireza Jahanbakhsh. This was our first look at £18m Webster in an Albion shirt and aside from getting brushed off far too easily by Tom Nichols on his way to blasting Rovers level, it was a decent showing – although nowhere near the levels that the outstanding Dan Burn has shown so far this season.
As for Jahanbakhsh, well it was another pretty nondescript display from the £17m winger. He started on the right of the front three, the position that his Iranian fan club have constantly told us he will thrive in. But even against League One opposition, there was no thriving.
In fact, there was no anything. It was such a typical Jahanbakhsh performance. He never seems to do anything wrong, but that’s because he doesn’t seem to do much at all.
His only contribution of note came when his 55th minute shot was deflected into the path of Connolly who reacted in predatory fashion to fire the loose ball home. Jahanbakhsh moved to right wing back later in the game but didn’t pull up any trees there either, so it remains pretty unclear exactly what Potter can do with him going forward.
That isn’t the case for Connolly though. As well as his expertly taken goal, the 19-year-old was a lively presence throughout, doing his chances of involvement with the Premier League squad in the coming weeks no harm.
With Florin Andone suspended and Jurgen Locadia looking likely to secure a loan move to Hoffenheim, this was an opportune moment for Connolly to play so well.
But that doesn’t mean the hype machine should go into overdrive. Brighton fans have a rich history for getting ridiculously overexcited about young strikers, only to then write them off because they don’t score 10 goals in their first 10 games.
Jake Robinson and Joe Gatting are probably the two highest profile examples of this with Robinson even being compared to Wayne Rooney at the time of his breakthrough by some. A bit like comparing Katie Hopkins to Ariana Grande.
Connolly isn’t suddenly going to break into the first team and be challenging Mo Salah and Sergio Aguero for the golden boot just because he scored a goal against a League One side, so some tempering of expectations is definitely needed.
It was a player at the opposite end of the age and experience spectrum who provided the winner. Murray was captain for the night and delivered a match winning goal with the armband when penalties were looming.
Alzate was the architect, firstly driving 50 yards forward through the middle with the ball before spraying it out to the left.
The young midfielder then collected it again from Bernardo, dropped a shoulder to skip past a Rovers defender and delivered the perfect low cross which Murray flicked home for goal number 110 in an Albion shirt.
Eight years ago, Murray had notched his 47th at the Memorial Stadium in a 4-2 win for Gus Poyet’s League One champions. 11 years ago, goal number nine came in Bristol against Rovers as Dean Wilkins’ side won 2-0 in the penultimate game of the 2007-08 season.
It’s remarkable really – and a testament to his professionalism – that Murray is still here at the age of 34, scoring goals as a Premier League footballer and with Tommy Cook’s Albion record of 123 in sight.
If the Football League looked after their clubs half as well as Glenn does himself, then we might still have Bury with us. RIP to the Shakers.
