Brighton League Cup fever reaches restaurant in Madeira

The night before Brighton faced Wolves in the League Cup, I was in a restaurant in Madeira. I had finished devouring a sirloin steak which I cooked myself on the stone, wiped my chops after having the biggest banana split ever seen and paid the bill.

After a fond farewell to the waiter, my wife and I headed to the exit. Then, a voice piped up from my left. “Love your shirt mate, you must be an Albion supporter!”

I looked over and discovered a couple who knew all about football and Brighton. The lady said: “I told you dear, you should wear yours, it looks great.”

We chatted about the Albion. It never ceases to amaze me when I am away from home, how football brings people together and creates conversation.

The following day and temperatures in Sussex by the Riviera were said to be close to mid-20s. It was only a tad warmer here in Funchal at 26 degrees.

Wednesday evening was an important game for the Albion. WAB covered in its preview for the Wolves game how poorly Brighton have performed in the League Cup over the years.

But on the other hand, the BBC reported the Albion have lost only six times to Wolves in all competitions. Something had to give at the Amex. Either Brighton suffered a rare loss to Wolves or they secured a rare place in round four.

Thankfully, it was the latter thanks to a 3-2 victory. It means our Seagulls join several other Premier League clubs in the fourth round of the competition.

Manchester United just about managed to beat Barnsley 7-0 on Tuesday night. This was not a great result for United, who should expect a better scoreline playing at home. Don’t you agree?

Southampton eliminated Everton 6-5 on penalties. Toffees fans are probably relieved that their club can now really knuckle down and concentrate on Premier League survival. Crystal Palace also made it through.

As kick off at the Amex approached, I had something of a panic in Madeira over how I was going to watch the game. Sky Go does not allow subscribers to watch when in Europe because now we have left the EU apparently.

BBC Radio Sussex was unavailable over the internet and so I nearly found myself showering, dressing and making the trip to an Irish pub in Funchael with Sky. Would they show the Brighton game with so much other football on TV, including the Champions League?

Thankfully, the Albion website was broadcasting commentary. It was a real relief to hear Johnny Cantor and Warren Aspinall come on air, saying eight changes had been made from the Brighton starting XI who drew with Ipswich on Saturday.

Fabian Hurzeler was attempting to strike a good balance between winning the game and resting players for Sunday’s match against Nottingham Forest, who will arrive on the coast with a win over Liverpool under their belts.

Johnny and Warren discussed the absence of VAR from Brighton versus Wolves. The new rule appears to be that VAR will only be used in the League Cup if all stadiums hosting a game in that round of the competition have it.

Basically, it requires every match to be played at a Premier League ground. So if Preston North End are drawn at home in round four, it won’t be used. If Preston went all the way to the final, VAR would only come into the competition at Wembley.

Sussex by the Sea was again played in its new spot just before kick off rather than when the teams walk out, as Liverpool do with You’ll Never Walk Alone.

It is much more powerful and I am so glad I suggested it writing on WAB last season. However, if someone else takes the credit for it, so be it. I have been used to that all my life!

The attendance was not great with both the West and Easter Uppers being closed and half the South Stand. Playing Crawley Town in the previous round had proven a bigger draw! But despite all the empty seats, there was still a great sound winging its way over the BBC Sussex airwaves.

Evan Ferguson had the opening chance of the game on his first start for a long time because of injury. His shot though lacked the power to beat Jose Sa in the Wolves goal.

Brighton settled quickly and took the lead after 14 minutes. With the way the Albion were dominating possession, I thought a goal was coming. I did not expect it to be quite so spectacular from Carlos Baleba though.

Baleba was quick to intercept a Wolves player on the right hand side, moved into the centre and let a low powerful sizzler of a shot fly into the bottom corner.

It was followed by an Olympic gymnast style celebration. Warren sounded a word of caution, saying it was great to watch as long as Baleba does not turn an ankle landing.

Warren then added that he once tried a forward roll to celebrate a goal and it caused an earthquake. I just want to say that you were not fat, Warren, just muscular.

The North Stand belted out “Que sera sera, whatever will be, will be, we’re going to Wembley” in response to the goal. Hang on chaps, I thought, you maybe a tad early with that.

Ferguson must have fancied Wembley as he beat Sa on 23 minutes for what should have been a second Brighton goal. The ball appeared to be going in when Minteh helped it along just to sure.

Minteh though was in an offside position and so he instead caused the goal to be ruled out. Never mind – at least the Albion were showing they knew where the onion bag was after Saturday’s blank against Ipswich.

Next came Simon Adingra cutting inside from the left and through the tone of Johnny’s voice, you could sense something was about to happen.

Adingra took a shot which like Baleba earlier was from outside the box and again it flew into the corner beyond Sa. 2-0 Brighton and things were looking comfortable.

The 38th minute saw Julio Enciso take a free kick from outside the box. He clearly wanted to score from distance too having seen Baleba and Adingra steal his trademark.

Warren summed up Enciso’s effort best when he said it must have been aimed at the pie man at the back of the South Stand as it flew miles over the crossbar. Groans could be heard from all around the ground.

That seemed to spark a real period of wobbles for Brighton. The 44th minute saw Wolves pull one back when Goncalo Guedes slotted home after the Albion switched off and allowed Wolves in behind.

2-1 almost became 2-2 straight from kick off for the second half. Jason Steele produced a great save to bail his teammates out and things did not get much better from there.

Brighton made mistake after mistake. As our commentators said, winning becomes a habit but it looked here like individual mistakes had become a habit. It was a tense, frustrating listen so I can only imagine how frustrating it was for those at the Amex.

Hurzeler tried to steady the ship by taking off Baleba and Ferguson and bringing on Mats Wieffer and Danny Welbeck. It did not really work and instead the Albion needed one of the most amazing clearances off the line you will ever see from Jack Hinshelwood to remain ahead.

The pressure continued to mount on Brighton until the 85th minute when substitute Ferdi Kadioglu scored against the run of play.

Kadioglu had only been brought on three minutes earlier and found himself in the right place at the right time to tap home the rebound after a Welbeck shot was saved by Sa.

A 3-1 lead with five minutes remaining would normally be game over. Not with the way Brighton played in the second half!

Wolves continued to go on the prowl and pulled another back after 91 minutes, a powerful shot crashing off the underside of the bar and in after a poor pass from Steele.

The Albion managed to see out the remainder of time added on without conceding again. An evening not helpful for those of us who struggle with their blood pressure but ultimately the unbeaten start to the season goes on and Brighton are into the fourth round.

You can even excuse the mistakes by taking into account the eight changes made by Hurzeler and the fact some of these guys have not played much football together this season.

Cut out the errors and hopefully we can chop down Forest on Sunday. I will be listening in from Madeira.

Tony Noble @Noble1844Tony