Adingra and Baleba show the future is bright for Brighton

With no let up in the schedule, Brighton faced another tough fixture against Liverpool just three days after coming from behind to draw 2-2 with Marseille.

The weather was amazing for an early October afternoon, with temperatures in the 20 degrees range and a bright autumn afternoon sun.

As I came over the top of Ditchling Beacon, the Amex looked fantastic in the distance. This view from 814 feet above sea level was nearly as impressive as my last glimpse of the stadium, from 18,140 feet up in the air in an Airbus A320 approaching London Gatwick a fortnight earlier.

That was on the flight back from a holiday to Portugal, which had meant missing both the AEK Athens and Bournemouth home games.

Being absent for two matches had given me withdrawal symptoms, which were soon satisfied once we have parked up in the Bridge Car Park.

Walking to the ground, I bumped into a work colleague who I never even knew was a Brighton supporter. He spotted me because I had my name on the back of my Albion shirt to help promote by book, Seagulls Best Ever Season Volume II.

We chatted and wondered how the afternoon would pan out. In the end, Brighton did well to take a hard-earned point.

Were it not for a couple of those errors which have crept in during recent weeks, the Albion might have even come away with all three.

The most pleasing aspect for me of Brighton 2-2 Liverpool was the young players who stepped up. Carlos Baleba and Simon Adingra were excellent.

Whenever Brighton make a big-money sale, the rest of football says that is the bubble bursting. But then more come along like Baleba and Adingra and off we go, continuing to float amongst the big clubs.

The emergence of Baleba means we may soon stop missing Moises Caicedo. One thing I will continue to miss are the Albion Wine Gums, no longer available in the East Upper.

Maybe one day they will come back? On the plus side, the new style hot dog tastes much better than what was served up by the previous supplier. These were flying off the shelf.

Also flying off the shelf has been the Seagulls Best Ever Season Volume II. The Amex Superstore was heaving when I popped in before the game with far fewer copies of the book left than before I jetted off to Portugal.

I was even able to chat to a young lad and his parents who were perusing the book. He was asking for it as a Christmas present and seemed quite amazed when I told him I actually wrote it. I don’t think he really believed me!

Watching the players warm up and I spotted Jurgen Klopp in the centre circle chatting away with fourth official Graham Scott. I wonder what they were discussing as far away from microphones as possible?

It was great to see the players and officials all take the knee before kick off as it was No Room For Racism weekend.

Brighton made a fast start, showing Liverpool how to apply pressure. There were a number of corners at the South Stand end making the visitors a little nervy it seemed.

The 20th minute brought the opening goal of the game through some incredible forward and quick thinking by Adingra.

He intercepted a pass to Alexis Mac Allister and made it to around 30 yards out from goal. Seeing Alisson Becker off his line, Adingra seized the opportunity and placed the ball to the right of the Liverpool goalkeeper and into the back of the net.

Next it was the turn of Baleba to show the Amex what he could do. A run from well inside the Albion half saw him beat several Liverpool players to make it to the edge of the penalty area.

From there, Baleba let off a low shot which was just a whisker wide of the post. If this play from Adingra and Baleba is a sign of what we will be treated to over the coming weeks and months, then a great period lies ahead watching the Albion.

My next thought was how long can we hold onto this lead for? The answer was 20 minutes. 40 minutes had been played when Brighton made their first major error.

A misplaced long pass from Lewis Dunk was intercepted by Mac Allister. The former Albion midfielder passed to Dominik Szoboszlai, he slipped it to Nunez who played a square pass across goal.

Harvey Elliott dummied and that left Mo Salah to slot past Bart Verbruggen. Brighton should not need reminding that stray passes are punished by the best teams in the Premier League.

1-1 at half time would have been manageable. The Albion though found it within them to make another mistake before referee Anthony Taylor blew his whistle.

Verbruggen played a pass without really thinking of the consequences of Pascal Gross being surrounded by five red shirts.

Szoboszlai got there before Gross. All Gross could do in response was tug the shirt of Szoboszlai, sending both players to the ground.

Mr Taylor pointed to the spot and Salah stepped up to score, drastically changing what Roberto De Zerbi would say to his players during half time.

To go in 2-1 behind after such a positive start was a blow. But at some point, these individual mistakes will stop occurring. Then the rest of the league will have to watch out, because there will be Seagulls about!

Early in the second half, Evan Ferguson swept a cross field pass right into the path of Adingra. It looked like Adingra had equalised until Alisson made a brilliant save.

Liverpool could have moved 3-1 ahead but substitute Ryan Gravenberch missed a sitter, thank goodness. From a matter of yards out and with the goal gaping, Gravenberch somehow hit the crossbar.

Luis Diaz then missed the target with a slightly more difficult chance. Brighton were somewhat lucky to still be in the game, something they would go onto make the most of.

A big handball appeal against Virgil van Dijk was waved away by the officials. Mr Taylor was, however, willing to give Solly March a free kick out on left.

March delivered a beautifully placed ball for Dunk to knock in the equaliser. With that moment, Dunk had more than atoned for his earlier mistake to put the Albion back in the game.

Brighton had the wind in their sails in the final 12 minutes and might have taken all three points. More magic from Adingra saw him cross to Joao Pedro for a tap in.

Pedro though lent back and sent the ball miles over the bar from only eight yards out. Is that the second time he has skied a good opportunity in recent weeks?

The point kept Brighton in sixth place in the Premier League table going into the international break. Hopefully, none of our representatives get injured whilst away over the next two weeks.

And hopefully, we will see more of Baleba and Adingra when the campaign resumes – with the small matter of Manchester City away up next.

Tony Noble @Noble1844Tony

Seagulls Best Ever Season Volume 2 charts Brighton’s record breaking 2022-23 campaign through the eyes of Tony Noble, an East Stand Upper season ticket holder at the American Express Stadium. It is available from Waterstones, WHSmith, Amazon Bookstore and all good bookshops as well as the Albion Superstore at the Amex and via this link.