TF Match Report - Brighton and Hove Albion 1-1 Newcastle Utd

A meh match at a meh stadium with a meh result... Ed has your match report, sponsored by Amex

United celebrated the May Day bank holiday weekend with a trip to Brighton - a ground where traditionally, we have fared horrendously. No Premier League wins at the Amex only tells half the story. Brighton is the site of notorious Magpie capitulations, cup exits, and an anaemia in front of goal that goes back pretty much to the dawn of football - only five times have we ever scored more than once at this south coast away day, and only one of those occurred since 2011. All of which is not even to mention the damage Hürzeler’s side has done us in reverse fixtures this season. If you’re looking for the definition of ‘bogey team’, then look no further.

Confirmation came during the week that Joelinton’s knee issue was going to be a season-ender, and so for the seventh time in eight games our lineup was unchanged, with Willock on the left of the three-man midfield. The continued absence of Gordon feels noteworthy - leaving aside the form of his replacement Barnes, and the benefit of having his input from the bench - there was a time not so long ago when his would’ve been one of the first names on the team sheet, but it is now nearly ten weeks since his last league start, and nearly four months since his last league goal.

There’s a slickness to Brighton’s operations that is the envy of many other football clubs. From their internationally renowned recruitment of young players and their ability to consistently replace managers without losing identity or momentum - to the hospitality experience they are able to offer to fans by being so conveniently, inconveniently positioned outside of the town itself, meaning fans (or customers, perhaps) have no choice but to spend all of the pre-match change at a club-owned outlet. Swift half in the Amex lounge, anyone? Only for those who hold the appropriate card, of course.

United made some decent early running. Within a minute Tonali and Barnes had both burst forward and looked to make inroads into a Brighton defence that the form table tells you is more than shaky. The away end was noisy without being raucous. Perhaps nerves, perhaps frustration. Perhaps the slick corporate football experience of the Amex just feels too different from our own chaotic lump of concrete dumped in the city centre.

Fifteen minutes in and all United’s attacks were being neutered down the channels. It wasn’t clear whether Alexander Isak had touched the ball. Dan Burn was having a bit of back-and-forth with Yankuba Minteh. The more I see of the Gambian the more he reminds me of another ex-United winger. Dynamic and hard working, pacy and direct. But a questionable end product and an infuriating insistence on only using his left foot…

That one-footedness is already one of Minteh’s main calling cards, and so both Sandro Tonali and Tino Livramento cannot be forgiven for showing him onto his favourite side on the half hour mark, as for the second time this season our balance-sheet saviour became our on-field saboteur, curling a shot past Pope and just inside the post. Brighton hardly deserved their lead, but United had not done anywhere near enough to control the game.

A skirmish between Mats Wieffer and Harvey Barnes led to a minor scuffle as the game became bitty. Brighton, who had been in terrible form, looked to scrap and frustrate their way to half time, and the tactic worked. Our set-pieces were tame, with the cup-final-back-post-Burn routine repeatedly failing to bear fruit. With minimal cohesion, United were reduced to individual moments, and it was hardly surprising that Barnes - a player who has made a career from individual moments - looked our only genuine threat. I genuinely forgot Jacob Murphy was on the pitch.

Half time should’ve brought the immediate introduction of Anthony Gordon, but for some reason Howe chose to waste the first ten minutes of the second period by repeating the same formula, presumably expecting different results. When the inevitable change was made, it took barely two minutes for our flamboyant number 10 to make a difference, cutting in from the left and being felled by Lamptey - the ref awarded a pen but the VAR correctly ruled the challenge to have been outside the box. Prior to that, Wieffer could, and perhaps should, have been sent off for a second yellow. It felt like momentum might just be building.

At the other end, Fabian Schär pulled his standard trick of gifting away possession and almost handing the opposition a second goal. Brighton continued to scrap but couldn’t prevent the game becoming more open - though neither keeper was being seriously tested.

Then, another penalty that wasn’t. The ever-industrious but increasingly impotent Willock burst into the box and seemed, at first glance, to be tripped. Our old friend VAR again thwarted the celebrations, rightly deducing a dive, and a booking for Joe. In a manner we’ve become very accustomed to, Pope was instructed to take a seat and force a timeout, so Eddie could gather the lads and mastermind some sort of spark. Wilson came on and United went two up top - an indication of how crucial the final ten minutes could be.

With time ticking away, Barnes was felled at the edge of the box. From the resulting free kick a Brighton defender inexplicably chose to try and punch Schär’s goal-bound effort away, and at last we had a penalty decision that stuck. Why there was such a long VAR deliberation, I’ll never know. This was as stonewall as they come.

Whether or not there was a timid appeal from Wilson for the spot-kick responsibility is unknown, but Isak it was who assuredly stepped up and found the bottom corner with aplomb, just in time for 9 minutes of stoppage time to be announced. Just long enough for a match winning chance at each end. Brighton’s was far more clear-cut, a header from 5 yards that would’ve been catastrophic and heartbreaking in equal measure. Wilson could’ve won it for us, but Verbruggen made his only really decent save of the game to keep it level.

A point at our bogey ground is not to be sniffed at, especially as it appears (as I write this) Liverpool seem intent on lying down limply for our West London Champions League chasing rivals. Next weekend’s game at St James’ against Chelsea is now a season-definer, so why on earth it’s kicking off at midday on Sunday is beyond me. Set your alarms, and set aside six pints of your favourite tipple to accompany breakfast. We need a big atmosphere, and a big performance. It is - to borrow the old cliché - a cup final. The good news is that recently, we’ve got a pretty good record in those.

Ed Cole

@edsamuelcole.bsky.social