It’s A Funny Old Game

Sometimes the world of football can leave you lost for words. Just when you thought you had seen it all, something new and different comes up and leaves you in shock and disbelief.

You know it’s bad when the Sky Sports vidiprinter has to spell out the score, and for a nation watching Jeff and the gang, they would have seen Huddersfield Town 7 (SEVEN) – Brighton & Hove Albion 1. Being there was no better either.

The reaction of our fans covered a wide range of emotions. Speaking to fans during the game, it was so bad you had to laugh, no matter if you had 10 pints or none. When you look at the flurry of Facebook updates in the proceeding 10 minutes after the final whistle, there was anger and embarrassment.

Whatever the fans thought of the dismal display of hapless defending and comical play, Huddersfield played well and 7-1 was not a flattering score line. The fact they missed a penalty, two sitters and hit the woodwork a couple of times shows that we were thoroughly outclassed on the night.

Going into the game, the general consensus was that we were solid as a defensive unit, but weren’t creating anything upfront. How that was to change over the course of the night.

Brighton, actually started the better of the two teams and forced a number of corners without properly threatening to score. Huddersfield scored with the very first attack, after Virgo sent a diving header across his own six yard box, and a cross came back in for a header by Kay to make it 1-0, slightly against the run of play.

Then our single moment of glory. 303 minutes after the season started, we got our first goal, and what a goal. Liam Dickinson sent a rasping half volley from distance into the top left corner to equalise, and things were looking up.

The celebrations barely finished when Clarke scored unchallenged in the 6 yard box less than a minute later, making it 2-1 to Huddersfield.

Adam El Abd ensured the game was over after a suicidal back pass left Novak one on one with Kuipers. Novak nicked the ball past Kuipers dive at his feet and went down. Although Novak appeared to dive, it was a clear penalty and the inevitable red card came out from the referee.

The scenes which followed are not what you want to see associated with the club, but maybe they were understandable from Michel’s point of view. It was a dive, but it was a penalty. The way Kuipers reacted was bad, and got worse as the card came out. If the referee reports it, there maybe a lengthy ban for Brighton’s number 1.

The dismissal lead to Jamie Smith (who had played well) coming off for Graeme Smith to make his debut in goal. Within 5 seconds of coming on, he was booked for time wasting. He then dived the wrong way for the resulting Novak penalty and it was then 3-1 to Huddersfield.

The second half just went wrong. What can you say? Brighton barely put two passes together and the defence collapsed like the nations economy and cricket team. I can’t even remember all the goals, but looking at the match report there were further goals for Gary Roberts, Darren Drinkwater, and two late goals for Brighton target, Theo Robinson.

There was even time for Jordan Rhodes to miss a penalty. He had scored 5 in the first 3 games of the season, but failed to beat Smith with his spot kick.

The Brighton fans in the ground were angry at half time, but the 4th goal was greeted with the odd rye smile. The 5th goal was just disbelief and resulted in fans taking photos of the scoreboard. In that time, a 6th goal was shipped in and Brighton fans just kept singing their hearts out in adversity, as there were still 17 minutes left, and double figures a possibility.

The 7th goal went in, and there wasn’t even a hint of resentment from the 407 who travelled there. You had to laugh, there was no point getting angry. We were rubbish, they were quality, and the thrashing was a fair result.

Bizarrely, at the final whistle, the players and fans were clapping each other very loudly; you would have thought that we’d just won a Johnstone Paints Semi final. There were no boo’s, no calls for the managers head, and no abuse of the players. Maybe it just hadn’t sunk in just how bad we were, but it was an unusual display of affection in a ludicrous situation.

Although it does look bad, 3 games, 2 defeats, a draw and only being kept off the bottom by a team that started on -10 points, at least it happened early doors, and not at the business end of the season.

As one Brighton fan so brilliantly put it, “Success is the ability to go from one failure to another, with no loss of enthusiasm”

Brett M