League Cup home games have been a rarity in recent seasons. The draw for round two had been kind to Brighton, giving a Sussex Derby against Crawley Town on what was a beautiful August evening, weather wise.
This was the Albion’s second meeting against a team known as the Red Devils in four days after they saw off Manchester United 2-1 on Saturday afternoon.
United fans were obviously quite miffed following the weekend result. As I drove out of the Bridge Car Park, a truck wound down its window and a United supporter jeered at me.
“You lot were lucky, mate,” he said. Not wishing to cause a scene or invite criminal damage to my vehicle, I smiled back and replied: “Yes we were, mate… once again.”
I drove away quietly, sniggering under my roof. It is always great to beat United and their arrogant supporters, especially at home.
So, could we now see off the Sussex Red Devils? We all know football can deliver strange results and nothing is ever certain.
For only the second time in 58 years, I watched Brighton from the North Stand with the East Upeer closed. I was row A, block F. Bang smack in the centre of the goal, the perimeter wall right in front of me.
What a different perspective that gave. To hear the sound of the ball hitting the back of the net three times in the second half was fantastic.
I arrived at the Amex in good time to see BBC South East Today sports reporter James Dunn prepping for a live broadcast for the evening show.
Chatting with the fish and chip van team before the game, I found out they are not going to be part of the new Fan Zone. Let us hope this does not mean the club are getting rid of them, and that the burger van returns as well.
Also on the outside concourse was Gully. I finally got my wish and had a photo with him. It is great to see how many of our young fans enjoy having pictures and interacting with both Gully and Sally.
Living in the north of Sussex between Crawley and East Grinstead gave this game added significance for me. Whilst my loyalties lie firmly with the Albion, I have friends who support the Red Devils.
One is Brian Quinn, twice mayor of Crawley. I met up with him before kick off and after some friendly banter, he headed to the South Stand to join nearly 3,000 other Crawley fans.
They supported their club well, once a tribute to the late Sven-Goran Eriksson was paid following his sad death in the preceding days.
Crawley have been impressive over recent seasons, culminating in gaining promotion to League One at the end of the last campaign. They then suffered the blow of losing at least five of their key players in the summer.
It was therefore difficult to know what to expect at the Amex. I thought that the Red Devils would be physical, but I did not think they would go so far as to adopt the tactics of a park team playing at Waterhall.
Referee Alex Chilowicz did not help. I was very unimpressed by him. It beggars belief he could happily book someone for kicking the ball away, but view a reckless tackle breaking a bone in an ankle not worthy of any sort of reprimand.
Yes, we have to talk about that tackle from Jay Williams. Poor Matt O’Riley requires surgery and will miss many weeks of the season, having been on the pitch for only six minutes following his £25 million move from Celtic.
Williams was seen laughing afterwards. That is not the actions of a fair sportsman. Williams was reckless and unprofessional.
If he broke someone’s bone like that off the pitch, he may find himself on the wrong side of the law. Williams laughed it off, receives no punishment and now O’Riley is left out injured. We wish him well in his recovery.
There were a couple of twitchy moments for Brighton after O’Riley limped off. Sitting as close to the pitch as I was, you could almost see the whites of the Crawley forwards’ eyes.
Ronan Darcy and Josh Flint both tested Bart Verbruggen but the Dutch international made good saves both times. It was great to see Verbruggen in an Albion shirt again after his performances for the Netherlands at Euro 2024.
Some exquisite play from Carlos Baleba set up for the opening Brighton goal. Baleba made a run from inside his half and placed a perfect through ball to Simon Adingra coming in from the left.
Adingra picked up possession and beat Jojo Woollacott, giving the Albion a 1-0 lead to take into half time.
I expected to see action down my end with Brighton kicking towards the North Stand in the second half. And it did not take long for the net in front of me to bulge.
Julio Enciso expertly dummied and broke with a charge down the pitch. He looked up to see Jeremy Sarmiento and Mark O’Mahony.
Sarmiento crossed Enciso’s path. Enciso slipped the ball to Sarmiento and he let go a powerful shot with his left foot into the top corner.
Both sides began to make changes as the game wore on. It was superb to see Pervis Estupinan back for Brighton and quickly creating some promising chances.
The final two goals came in the last 10 minutes. Adam Webster headed home a corner to give Brighton a 3-0 lead and O’Mahony added the fourth for his first Albion goal.
There was still time as the game entered stoppage time for Crawley to produced another dreadful tackle. Jack Roles was the player flying in on Yasin Ayari, earning a straight red card for his trouble.
How Williams avoided being sent down the tunnel 80 minutes earlier will remain one of life’s great mysteries.
Tony Noble @Noble1844Tony
