Awful refereeing, bad discipline and lack of creativity all contributed to the final outcome as the Cobblers were beaten at the Withdean Stadium. Andy Kirk’s third goal in three games couldn’t prevent our first defeat this season on a rainy day in Brighton.
It’s always nice to have a break from the long haul of match days that comes as part of the deal of living away from Northampton. Following last week’s traffic madness in getting back up to my beautiful birth town, it was welcoming that the next fixture on the list was a local one for me…the hour and a half trip to Brighton being one of the closer ventures this season, beaten only by Bournemouth for close range excursions.
So I even managed a lie-in before heading out and leaving Southampton at 11:30 was a blessing, despite the dark rain clouds that were gathering overhead. A quick change of train at glorious Eastleigh and I was away, amongst the usual Saturday train passengers:
- The Chavs…part and parcel of any community these days. You can’t get rid of them and their constant need to play music on their mobile phones until someone in France hears their tunes.
- The Family Day out…often accompanied by screaming children are the moaning Dad, the Mum playing Sudoku, ignoring the rest of the family, and the occasional sleeping Uncle.
- The football “hooligans”…on this occasion, Pompey Fans, this type of rail user can often fall into the “chav” category but distance themselves by being old enough to buy a can of Strongbow from the train buffet cart. Usually a gang of five or six lads who are out to get drunk and shout insults at one another.
Anyway, you get the picture there, and I’m starting to sound like an old man moaning about the “youf” of today so on to more pressing matters at the Withdean! The view was as poor as I remembered from last October’s visit but I hoped for a more entertaining game then the atrocity of that day. There was certainly more incident, from the very start.
Stuart Gray stuck with the side that defeated Millwall in the Carling Cup on Tuesday evening with Andy Kirk making it into the starting line-up despite a recent groin problem.
After just 52 seconds, Chris Doig fouled Alex Revell in area and Albion had a penalty, converted by Dean Hammond to stun the Cobblers in the opening minute of the game. There was a quick response though and Andy Kirk shot wide before Poul Hubertz headed over.
The breakthrough came eventually as Andy Kirk scored his third header of the season, this time from a Jason Crowe cross. From then on we looked in control and if anyone was going to go in front, it looked likely to be the Cobblers. Andy Holt and Hubertz tested home goalkeeper Michele Kuipers as the half came to an end and we were optimistic going into the second 45.
Unfortunately we lost composure as referee Mike Thorpe made a couple of hundred enemies looking on from the, fortunately for him, long distance of the away end. Time after time, Hubertz was challenging for headers and just because of his height was adjudged to be the one fouling his man. A Brighton player went down and Thorpe stopped the game as we were attacking. From the resulting restart, Albion hammered the ball back towards Mark Bunn. When one of our players went down, the game rolled on, Thorpe standing right next to the incident yet letting Brighton play on around the injured player.
Hubertz was booked for “consistent infringement” before Mark Hughes also saw yellow after a scuffle in the Brighton half which saw him push a home player in the chest. Minutes later and with the Cobblers losing their heads it was 2-1. A dodgy free kick in our half was headed home by Revell and from then on we never looked like getting back in the game.
Our only half chance came from a corner but there weren’t enough bodies in the area to convert the ball.
After five minutes of injury time, it was all over and we headed home pointless from our first away game of the season. Although you can lie part of the blame on Mr Thorpe’s shocking decisions and refereeing in general, the Cobblers should have been more disciplined and lost our rag too easily, costing us a point and possibly even three by how much we were in control of the first half once we were level.
The midfield looks lightweight and we lack the certain spark from the central areas to turn defence into attack. The annoying thing was that Brighton weren’t that great. To be beaten by a poor side makes it even harder to take and luckily I wasn’t one of the couple of hundred people who had the long journey back to Northampton to deal with.
I was, instead, left alone to ponder the day on the trip back along the south coast and I was thinking all the way home that it had been a shocking day, we had an awful referee, played pretty badly in the second half, got wet and generally went home miserable and that means that football is well and truly back!
PLAYER RATINGS
MARK BUNN: Dealt with crosses well after a few near misses on Tuesday night. Couldn’t get near the penalty. (7)
JASON CROWE: The only hope going forward was our right back, which should worry the midfield. (8)
MARK HUGHES: Unprofessional to lose it by running half the pitch to complain and make his presence felt in the scuffle that led to his booking. (6)
CHRIS DOIG: Clumsily gave the penalty away. (6)
DANNY JACKMAN: Had a good game at left back and unfortunate to be replaced late on. (7)
IAN HENDERSON: Played on the right and never looked like providing much ammunition for Kirk and Hubertz. (6)
RYAN GILLIGAN: Still not convinced that he’s a starter and didn’t get a lot of space. (6)
BRAD JOHNSON: Didn’t impose himself enough on the game and needs to offer more than a powerful shot now and again. (6)
ANDY HOLT: Not allowed to get forward much and like Henderson needed to provide more balls into the box. (6)
ANDY KIRK: Took the goal well and is on fire at the start of the season. Hope he can keep it up as the season kicks in. (7)
POUL HUBERTZ: Frustrated late on after the unlucky booking. Needs the service but also needs to dig in himself and not get too annoyed at decisions that are always seemingly going to go against him. (6)
BRETT JOHNSON (SUB): Beaten easily by Albion sub Bas Savage on a couple of occasions. (5)
DANIEL JONES (SUB): Again played on the right but never gave us anything more in terms of a hope for a let equaliser. (5)
COLIN LARKIN (SUB): Only on for stoppage time. (5)
It’s always nice to have a break from the long haul of match days that comes as part of the deal of living away from Northampton. Following last week’s traffic madness in getting back up to my beautiful birth town, it was welcoming that the next fixture on the list was a local one for me…the hour and a half trip to Brighton being one of the closer ventures this season, beaten only by Bournemouth for close range excursions.
So I even managed a lie-in before heading out and leaving Southampton at 11:30 was a blessing, despite the dark rain clouds that were gathering overhead. A quick change of train at glorious Eastleigh and I was away, amongst the usual Saturday train passengers:
- The Chavs…part and parcel of any community these days. You can’t get rid of them and their constant need to play music on their mobile phones until someone in France hears their tunes.
- The Family Day out…often accompanied by screaming children are the moaning Dad, the Mum playing Sudoku, ignoring the rest of the family, and the occasional sleeping Uncle.
- The football “hooligans”…on this occasion, Pompey Fans, this type of rail user can often fall into the “chav” category but distance themselves by being old enough to buy a can of Strongbow from the train buffet cart. Usually a gang of five or six lads who are out to get drunk and shout insults at one another.
Anyway, you get the picture there, and I’m starting to sound like an old man moaning about the “youf” of today so on to more pressing matters at the Withdean! The view was as poor as I remembered from last October’s visit but I hoped for a more entertaining game then the atrocity of that day. There was certainly more incident, from the very start.
Stuart Gray stuck with the side that defeated Millwall in the Carling Cup on Tuesday evening with Andy Kirk making it into the starting line-up despite a recent groin problem.
After just 52 seconds, Chris Doig fouled Alex Revell in area and Albion had a penalty, converted by Dean Hammond to stun the Cobblers in the opening minute of the game. There was a quick response though and Andy Kirk shot wide before Poul Hubertz headed over.
The breakthrough came eventually as Andy Kirk scored his third header of the season, this time from a Jason Crowe cross. From then on we looked in control and if anyone was going to go in front, it looked likely to be the Cobblers. Andy Holt and Hubertz tested home goalkeeper Michele Kuipers as the half came to an end and we were optimistic going into the second 45.
Unfortunately we lost composure as referee Mike Thorpe made a couple of hundred enemies looking on from the, fortunately for him, long distance of the away end. Time after time, Hubertz was challenging for headers and just because of his height was adjudged to be the one fouling his man. A Brighton player went down and Thorpe stopped the game as we were attacking. From the resulting restart, Albion hammered the ball back towards Mark Bunn. When one of our players went down, the game rolled on, Thorpe standing right next to the incident yet letting Brighton play on around the injured player.
Hubertz was booked for “consistent infringement” before Mark Hughes also saw yellow after a scuffle in the Brighton half which saw him push a home player in the chest. Minutes later and with the Cobblers losing their heads it was 2-1. A dodgy free kick in our half was headed home by Revell and from then on we never looked like getting back in the game.
Our only half chance came from a corner but there weren’t enough bodies in the area to convert the ball.
After five minutes of injury time, it was all over and we headed home pointless from our first away game of the season. Although you can lie part of the blame on Mr Thorpe’s shocking decisions and refereeing in general, the Cobblers should have been more disciplined and lost our rag too easily, costing us a point and possibly even three by how much we were in control of the first half once we were level.
The midfield looks lightweight and we lack the certain spark from the central areas to turn defence into attack. The annoying thing was that Brighton weren’t that great. To be beaten by a poor side makes it even harder to take and luckily I wasn’t one of the couple of hundred people who had the long journey back to Northampton to deal with.
I was, instead, left alone to ponder the day on the trip back along the south coast and I was thinking all the way home that it had been a shocking day, we had an awful referee, played pretty badly in the second half, got wet and generally went home miserable and that means that football is well and truly back!
PLAYER RATINGS
MARK BUNN: Dealt with crosses well after a few near misses on Tuesday night. Couldn’t get near the penalty. (7)
JASON CROWE: The only hope going forward was our right back, which should worry the midfield. (8)
MARK HUGHES: Unprofessional to lose it by running half the pitch to complain and make his presence felt in the scuffle that led to his booking. (6)
CHRIS DOIG: Clumsily gave the penalty away. (6)
DANNY JACKMAN: Had a good game at left back and unfortunate to be replaced late on. (7)
IAN HENDERSON: Played on the right and never looked like providing much ammunition for Kirk and Hubertz. (6)
RYAN GILLIGAN: Still not convinced that he’s a starter and didn’t get a lot of space. (6)
BRAD JOHNSON: Didn’t impose himself enough on the game and needs to offer more than a powerful shot now and again. (6)
ANDY HOLT: Not allowed to get forward much and like Henderson needed to provide more balls into the box. (6)
ANDY KIRK: Took the goal well and is on fire at the start of the season. Hope he can keep it up as the season kicks in. (7)
POUL HUBERTZ: Frustrated late on after the unlucky booking. Needs the service but also needs to dig in himself and not get too annoyed at decisions that are always seemingly going to go against him. (6)
BRETT JOHNSON (SUB): Beaten easily by Albion sub Bas Savage on a couple of occasions. (5)
DANIEL JONES (SUB): Again played on the right but never gave us anything more in terms of a hope for a let equaliser. (5)
COLIN LARKIN (SUB): Only on for stoppage time. (5)
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