Back from the South Coast

Thanks to Ben1143uk for this report.

A little late, but apparently a wild weekend took precedence over going on the net.
Well I never !

Huddersfield Town 1 Brighton & Hove Albion 1

Robbie entertains us!

I was missing one vital piece of equipment to be able to write a decent match report about the Town Brighton game; a pair of Binoculars! The Withdean stadium is the worst ground in the country to watch a football match. For an away supporter you are 50 yards away from the action and you position is so low it feels like your filming a Bill Oddie twitching special! Anyhow on with the Match report. Huddersfield picked up a decent away point in a game that was pretty uneventful until the closing stages.

Brighton: Kuipers, Whing, El-Abd, Cox, Thomson, Reid, Elphick, Martot (Elder 88), Richards, Revell (Hart 86), Forster.
Subs Not Used: Mayo, Butters, Loft.
Huddersfield: Glennon, Holdsworth (Berrett 59), Skarz (Kamara 72), Collins, Mirfin, Nathan Clarke, Brandon, Worthington, Williams, Jevons, Beckett.
Subs Not Used: Smithies, Young, Killock.
Booked: Skarz, Cox.
Sent Off: Brandon (90), Hart (90).
Goals: Elphick 74, Williams 77
Att: 5,343
Ref: Roger East (Wiltshire).
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Huddersfield lined up in a 442 formation. Glennon was in goal behind a back four of Skarz, Mirfin, Clarke and Collins, in as a makeshift rightback. The midfield 4 held a slight change with Robbie Williams deployed on the left side of midfield. The centre saw Worthington paired with the returning Holdsworth, on the right was our cup king, Chrissy Brandon. Upfront Jevons partnered Beckett.

1ST HALF

The game kicked off and to be honest much of the first half was a drab affair with the two sides cancelling each other out. It really quite difficult to tell what was going on. Brighton had a bit of movement upfront, this brought out some study blocks by Mirfin and Clarke. After 10 mins or so Huddersfield seemed to have dealt with any early Brighton pressure and started to play a bit of football with Brandon having a tame shot at goal on 17 minutes.

The first genuine chance came on 22mins when Brighton had a free kick. The ball was delivered in and the Brighton winger got this head to the ball but could only find the side netting.

Truthfully chances and action were few and far between and I think most of the travelling fans were thinking of all the other more interesting things they could do on a Saturday afternoon, like watching paint dry! Still the Town fans were providing some good humour, that and the beers I`d consumed beforehand was defiantly helping.

Huddersfield had a chance to score when Jevons beat his defender in the corner, drove on and got a cross in. The Keeper tipped the ball on, this fell to Brandon who drove his volley wide. Beckett also had a chance to score at the end of the first half but he scuffed his shot.

The half came to an end, we could only hope for a bit more action in the second 45 mins.

2ND HALF

At the beginning of the second half the stewards decided to get the 10 or so Towns fans that were standing up to sit down. What a pointless exercise, its not like they were blocking anyone`s view. At least this managed to fire the town fans into a bit of singing at last.

Huddersfield started quite brightly, forcing an early chance. Brandon picked up a lose ball and moving it neatly onto Beckett. Beckett in turn pulled a ball cross the area, this was met by Jevons but his shot went sailing over. Jevons came close again in the 55 minute when Beckett feed him the ball; his shot was turned around the post by the Brighton goalie.

Skarz picked up a booking in the 56th minute when he brought the Brighton player down. It was the right thing to do as Brighton was breaking quickly. Brighton though soon created another chance when Forster picked up a long ball and charged at our defence. Town opened up like a can of sardines but Glennon came to the rescue blocking the shot at the strikers` feet.

With half and hour to play Ritchie made his first change, bring on Berrett for Holdsworth in centre midfield. A second substitution followed 10 minutes later When Skarz was replaced but Kamara. Malvin went to the right wing with Brandon swapping over to the left and Williams reverting to Left back. Kamara didn`t look fit to me when he came on and throughout the game he definitely seemed to be carrying a knock.

Shortly after these changes the first goal was scored, unfortunately it wasn`t Town! Brighton won a corner and from the ball was swung in from the resulting kick. The Big Brighton centre-half seemed to rise unopposed to head the across Glennon and into the back of the net. Oh Bugger I thought, that`s that then, Town 4th consecutive loss. However it wasn`t to be!

Step forward, the one the only Mr. Rooobbbiiieeeee Willliaaaaammmssss!!!!! Beckett was fouled around 20 yards out and Robbie stepped forward to take the free kick. At this point I turned to my Brummie mate who was definitely getting on well with a blonde Town fan behind us and said "Robbie is a supposed to be a free kick specialist, he scored the winner to send Blackpool up last year but he's done sod all like that for us yet, even his corners haven`t been great!" Oh how wrong was I!

Robbie had decided that this was the moment to entertain us! Realising he was south of the boarder and thinking that angels were on his side. Robbie who`d be suffering lazy days of late decided that the town fans should have no regrets about the 500 mile round trip they`d made, as they had suffered what had seemed like a Millennium waiting for some action. Robbie was going to show the kids what all this football nonsense was about! Stepping up to the spot Robbie looked supreme, making sure he didn`t do something stupid, Robbie lined himself up ran in, and made perfect contact with the ball. You could just feel it was going to be a magic moment. The ball flew through the air and bent straight in to the top left hand corner. The goalie had no chance! Indeed he had about as much chance of saving it as the advertising space! The Town fans went wild!

(I`m done with the song titles now, but it was Robbie`s` first goal for us!)

For the last fifteen minutes the game came to life as both sides started to look for a winner. Brighton took of the tired looking Revell to replace him with Gary Hart in the 86th minute. Brandon went close after being fed in by Beckett. On the stroke of 90 minutes Kamara got past the Brighton leftback and drove the ball into the box. Jevons pulled off a quality Back-heel shot which went agonisingly wide! Goal of the day if it had gone in!

In Injury time Town got a break down the left-hand side. The ball was with Brandon and Jevons who played keep ball for the final 30 seconds. This didn`t please the Huddersfield fans as we`d had some decent pressure and the ball was crying to get played into the box.

The final whistle was sounded but the game wasn`t quite over yet. I`ve no idea what turned Brandon into the incredible hulk, but whatever it was he wanted a bit of the Brighton player. They both squared up and tried to headbutt each other. The ref correctly flashed the red card straight away leave Brandon facing a suspension