Little mistakes cost Brighton in their 2-1 won defeat against Manchester City. And in the week leaking up to the Albion travelling to the Etihad Stadium, we received a reminder that little mistakes can have far bigger consequences in costing lives.
Former Brighton captain and manager Brian Horton spoke to Johnny Cantor on BBC Radio Sussex about how a random health check up via the League Manages Association discovered he had prostate cancer, for which he is now receiving treatment.
Brian went public with his story to advise all us blokes to learn about the risks and get checked out, even if we feel fine. Brian says he had no symptoms before being diagnosed.
Take it from me, the check can save lives. I had the check and even though the doctors said the reading was okay, I persisted and pushed that something was wrong.
When I pushed for a biopsy in 2016, they realised that it was as bad as it was. Without the check, I might not be here today.
Something as simple as having to pee in the middle of the night can be a sign of a problem. Remember, one man dies from prostate cancer every 45 minutes. That is two of us for every game of football.
Please get checked out. You can learn more about prostate cancer, the symptoms and who is at risk on the Prostate Cancer UK website. And of course, we wish Brian Horton a full and speedy recovery.
To the football and I think it is vital we all remember that City won the treble last season. For the Albion to put them under such pressure and come away feeling unlucky that we did not force an equaliser is a positive thing. The relief on the faces of some of the City players afterwards said it all.
Before the game, there was a moment of silence to mark the ongoing situation in Israel and Gaza. Clapping was also carried out to mark the passing of Frances Lee, a former Manchester City and England star who passed on recently.
Later of course, the world learned of another passing of a true football great. Sir Bobby Charlton was a hero for me as a schoolboy – I was 11-years-old when he helped England win the World Cup.
As true greats like Sir Bobby continue to leave us, you suddenly realise you are catching them up. All I would say is Sir Bobby did so much to make football in England what it is today.
He will always be remembered for his contribution on and off the pitch. Even after his retirement from playing, he never really retired from the sport. He was always there. RIP Sir Bobby Charlton and thanks for the memories.
Once the game got underway, the Brighton support could be heard loud and clear over the BBC airwaves despite there being 50,000 odd City supporters present.
To have such backing most give the players so much encouragement, so well done to everyone who went and cheered on the lads.
Unfortunately, it took City just seven minutes to find the back of the Albion net. There had been an earlier warning sign when Phil Foden played a pass out to Jeremy Doku on the left. He cut inside and shot just wide.
Doku made his next run down the wing past Pascal Gross. Julian Alvarez had been left somewhat unmarked in the box and when Doku found him, Alvarez chipped the ball over the top of Jason Steele. 1-0 to City with a well executed goal, to be fair.
The first of two injury blows were then dealt to Brighton. Danny Welbeck limped off with 16 minutes played looking in some pain. With several more busy weeks of football to come, it is not a good time to be losing players.
Erling Haaland had apparently been in a goal drought before the Albion played City. Well, it just had to end against Brighton, didn’t it?
A Rick O’Shay off Carlos Baleba gave Haaland an opportunity to shoot and he was never going to miss, making it Man City 2-0 Brighton with just 19 minutes played.
Brighton were now facing a climb up Mount Everest to get back into the game. And they nearly did it. The Seagulls’ famous spirt and attitude of never giving up really showed come the second half.
The Albion had to survive a couple more scares in what remained of the first half though. Doku ran through again but shot wide. It would have been game over had that gone in.
I wondered how Roberto De Zerbi would keep morale up in his half time team talk. Whatever he said worked as Brighton were much better in part two, knowing that if they could pull a goal back then Pep Guardiola and City would be unsettled.
Gross felt he should have been awarded something when he shot wide after being challenged in the box by Rodri. Then Kaoru Mitoma embarked on one of his famous runs ended when Manuel Akangu brought down the Japanese Bullet Train.
City though still looked dangerous even with Brighton getting on top. Foden found Haaland and I thought to myself this is it, number three, game over. Steele though made a fantastic save to keep the Albion in the game.
Lewis Dunk was by now starting to show his passing range. A great ball forward almost helped Mitoma score. With his next chance, Mitoma headed into the side netting.
Dunk made a fantastic clearance covering for Steele who had gone a long way from his goal to challenge Doku. The clearance had the Albion breaking away down the left, Mitoma cut back to Fati and he struck the ball home. Man City 2-1 Brighton and very much game on.
As predicted, City and Guardiola became unnerved. The Albion piled on the pressure before the second concerning injury happened.
Solly March went down and had to be stretchered off. It looked very serious and those fears were confirmed when De Zerbi said he suspected March will be out for quite some time. We wish Solly well.
There was still a decent amount of injury time left after March went off; enough for Akangi to received a second yellow card for impeding Fati as Brighton strived to get that all-important second goal.
Unfortunately, it did not arrive. City away was always going to be a tough nut to crack, but if Brighton play like they did in the second half then we have reasons to be optimistic going into back-to-back home games against Ajax and Fulham.
Up the Albion.
Tony Noble @Noble1844Tony
Seagulls Best Ever Season Volume 2 charts Brighton’s record breaking 2022-23 campaign through the eyes of Tony Noble, an East Stand Upper season ticket holder at the American Express Stadium. It is available from Waterstones, WHSmith, Amazon Bookstore and all good bookshops as well as the Albion Superstore at the Amex and via this link.
