You cannot take your eyes off Brighton under De Zerbi for a minute
It was a dash back from Devon for the Nobles on Thursday afternoon for two reasons. The first was to avoid the horrible weather which was coming for the weekend. The second was to be ready and waiting in place at 9am Friday morning, sat at the computer to buy FA Cup semi final tickets.
Fortunately, all went to plan and we are off to Wembley on Sunday 23rd April. Having seen Manchester United well beaten by Newcastle United at St James’ Park, Brighton have nothing to fear when we face Erik ten Hag and co for a place in the final.
Brentford at the weekend was always going to be a tough game. Not only are the Bees having their best ever season, but there is a lot of rivalry at board level between Tony Bloom and Matthew Benham as underlined in the build up on WAB.
I, for one, was not 100 percent confident. Ivan Toney and Bryan Mbeumo were sure to give the Albion defence a hard time, making it likely we would see goals. Never though did I imagine there would be six of them and in such an exciting manner.
The sun was out and Spring was in the air. Soon, we will be coming to the Amex in short sleeve shirts again. I would never go so far as to appear barechested at this time of year, those like members of the Toon Army cheering their side to victory against Manchester United.
Two weeks off for the international break had left the pitch looking great, although the ground staff may have have found themselves picking up pieces of a broken iPad from it after Roberto De Zerbi gave Andrea Maldera’s tablet a right clobbering in frustration at Brentford scoring their third.
Still, at least he was not venting his frustration at the referee, who on this occasion was Michael Oliver. I was happy to see one of the best officials in the country taking charge, hoping he would not stand for the time wasting and other gamesmanship which visiting teams have used against Brighton this season.
So much happened in this game that you could not take your eyes off it for a minute. De Zerbi and the squad are serving up such entertainment, which is making the Albion’s attempts to qualify for Europe even more exciting.
The action started basically straight from kick off. Pervis Estupinan played in Kaoru Mitoma, who was halted by a great tackle from Brentford defender Ethan Pinnock.
Not long after and the Bees took the lead. Mathias Jenson threw to Mbeumo, collected the return and crossed into the box.
There was Pontus Jansson, making his first start since October and climbing highest in the air to head a rocket over Jason Steele.
The Albion players looked stunned and the crowd was silenced. Not like our friends from Grimsby Town in the previous game at the Amex, who kept chanting even as their side fell four and five goals behind.
We must all remember when we go to Wembley, yes all of us, to be in good voice and support the lads along no matter what.
Brentford are unbeaten in all 31 Premier League matches they have taken the lead. I began to feel a bit uncomfortable at this point, and wondered whether Brighton could be the team to end that impressive statistic. Blimey, we nearly did by the end.
Next came the right sight of an indirect free kick in the penalty area resulting from Estupinan cutting out Mbeumo and Steele picking up the loose ball.
The free kick was not only well blocked by Brighton, but nearly set up an attack. Estupinan broke up the right with Brentford doing well to eventually stop the counter.
Bees goalkeeper David Raya made the first of many saves when keeping out a left foot Solly March shot. Lovely football from Steele to Joel Veltman to Pascal Gross to March created the chance.
Raya proved to be the best Brentford player on the pitch, saving his team numerous times over the course of a match in which Brighton were the better team… although you would expect me to say that!
The first Albion equaliser came when Steele played a perfectly judged pass over the top of the Bees defence. Mitoma ran through and lobbed the ball over Raya to make it 1-1 with a goal made from fantastic foresight from Steele to play the pass and fantastic foresight from Mitoma for the controlled finish.
De Zerbi did his little dance which was great to see. The happiness did not last long; I was still celebrating the goal when Brentford scored at the other end.
A throw from Joel Veltman was intercepted. Two Brentford touches later and Toney found himself in beating Steele one-on-one. The bloke running the Albion scoreboard was struggling to keep up.
Brighton showed that they were not happy about it by equalising again, just six minutes later this time. Danny Welbeck headed down and into the Brentford goal a cross from, yes you guessed it, the man March who cannot seem to stop scoring or assisting.
Four goals in 29 minutes. A bit of a lull followed, allowing us to all catch our breath. Brighton had further chances before half time from Mitoma, Alexis Mac Allister and Levi Colwill but there were no further additions to the score.
During the interval I stuffed my traditional bag of wine gums into my mouth in record time as I needed sustenance to keep going. It was edge of the seat stuff in the East Upper, so goodness knows how the players in the middle of it all felt!
The decision to eat all those wine gums proved a good one as the action kept going. Mbeumo lined up a free kick in the 48th minute and I can began twitching. Every time this dangerous Bee was near the ball, something seemed to happen.
In came the perfect delivery towards the far post where Pinnock sneaked in unnoticed and volleyed home left footed. Brighton 2-3 Brentford and there were still 41 minutes plus added time to play.
It was all Brighton after that with too many chances to mention. Moises Caicedo, March, Veltman, Gross and Lewis Dunk were all kept out by Raya, who continued to try and save the day for Brentford.
The last minute brought a chance for Deniz Undav which went over the bar from close range. There was an unexpected appeal for handball, VAR looked and Mr Oliver was soon sent to the monitor.
He checked the situation and awarded Brighton a penalty. The decision seemed to take ages to reach and left Mac Allister standing and waiting for some time.
Mac Allister remained completely unflustered, stepped up and rocketed the ball into the top corner to make it Brighton 3-3 Bournemouth. What a penalty it was and a brilliant way to level the game.
The Albion deserved at least a point and it would have been more had they not conceded goals from so many errors. Mistakes need not be a bad thing as you learn from them, and the most important thing was that Brighton did not lose.
Bloom was a happy man, seen dancing in the aisles when the Mac Allister penalty hit the net. After celebrating the goal myself, I was absolutely worn out.
The trudge back to the Bridge car park seemed much harder than normal, it nearly finished me off! That is the price we pay though for an exciting manager and an exciting team, who you cannot take your eyes off without risking missing something!
Tony Noble @Noble1844Tony
