To the sound of the Liquidator as normal at Stamford Bridge, Brighton walked out on a dismal afternoon in West London to face Chelsea.
The Albion were down to the bare bones, facing a Blues squad which had cost more than £1 billion to put together. If money decided football matches, then this would have been a no-contest.
Lewis Dunk and Pascal Gross were two big absentees. Adam Lallana took over the captaincy with that duo missing. Chelsea meanwhile could call upon £89 million Mykhailo Mudryk, £106 million Fernandez and of course £115 million Moises Caicedo.
Listening on BBC Radio Sussex, Johnny Cantor and Warren Aspinall told us the Albion made a positive start through the opening five minutes.
Then though came some gremlins… both in the Albion defence and the BBC equipment. Jingles started randomly playing over and above Johnny and Warren, as if the PA announcer at Stamford Bridge had decided to blast out some BBC Radio Sussex trails to all the Chelsea and Brighton fans in the stadium.
Brighton’s gremlins came from set pieces. Mudryk earned Chelsea a corner which Conor Gallagher delivered to the far post.
A nifty overhead kick sent the ball back across goal, where Fernandez was waiting to slot home and put Chelsea 1-0 ahead with 17 minutes played.
I must say I had a bad feeling about this game before kick off. Four minutes later and those fears were further confirmed when the Pensioners scored from another corner.
This time, the ball was headed back across goal for Levi Colwill to score. It looked at first like Billy Gilmour had done so well to clear off the line, only for referee Craig Pawson’s watch to buzz and confirm it had gone in.
For all my concerns before the game, the Albion actually played quite well from that point. Set pieces obviously let them down, but I will not hint at them performing badly otherwise because that was not the case.
Maybe Brighton’s passing could have been a little sharper but the stats are telling. Brighton had 18 shots to Chelsea’s eight, nine of which were on target compared to five for the hosts.
Shot accuracy was a bigger problem for the Albion, 50 percent compared to Chelsea on 63 percent. Brighton meanwhile completed 561 successful passes to the Blues’ 237. Chelsea really should be ahead in all of those statistics with their huge financial gulf between the clubs.
Gallagher was booked for a targeted attack on Facundo Buonanotte. The best way for Buonanotte to fight back was by doing what he did in the 43rd minute.
It was a brilliant goal curled into the far corner from Buonanotte, well beyond Robert Sanchez. With the scoreline brought to 2-1 just before half time, things were looking brighter for the Albion.
There was action still to come prior to the break. Jason Steele made an amazing save after Mudryk ran and crossed. Igor Julio nearly turned the cross past Steele, only for the Brighton goalkeeper to palm the ball away.
Come the 45th minute and Gallagher clearly had a death wish. The Blues captain made an appalling tackle on Gilmour just inside the Chelsea half.
That was the end of Gallagher’s afternoon, Mr Pawson having no hesitation in awarding a second yellow and then brandishing a red. The Blues now had to play the entire second half with only 10 men. Could Albion take advantage of that?
Brighton did their best to break down Chelsea without much success. Sadly, the 65th minute saw the Blues take the lead from the penalty spot.
Sanchez, Raheem Sterling and Nicolas Jackson combined to find Mudryk. He ran into the Albion box to be challenged by James Milner.
Mudryk went to ground and remonstrated for the penalty. Mr Pawson was not interested until VAR stepped in. Chelsea suddenly had a questionable spot kick and Fernandez did the rest, making it 3-1 to the hosts.
Brighton managed to set up a tense period of stoppage time by pulling another goal back as the game ticked past the 90.
Sanchez denied Gross, who had by now come off the bench. Three quick corners in succession followed, with Milner whipping in the third from the let hand side.
Over it came to Joao Pedro, who leapt and headed towards the back post. The blood pressure and the settee springs did not like it when the ball flew into the back of the net.
The final few minutes were played in teaming rain. I sat there with bated breath, wondering if the Albion could rescue a point from what had appeared a hopeless situation.
In terms of effort and passion, nobody could fault Brighton. In the dying minutes, Simon Adingra ran away down the left and crossed towards Colwill.
Initially, Mr Pawson awarded Brighton a penalty. Then VAR told him he had got it wrong because the ball actually struck Colwill in the face.
Like most other Albion fans, I thought it would be a corner as the ball went out of play off Colwill. Who knew that when VAR is involved and the decision does not involve a free kick or penalty, the game is restarted with a drop ball?
Johnny confirmed the rule on the Albion Unlimited podcast later on the week. It was one of the only decisions Mr Pawson got right and provided a suitably dramatic end to a dramatic game.
The Albion will probably have felt they should have come home with at least a point. How must Chelsea have felt, knowing that they have spent all that money and still need dodgy decisions to see them to victory?
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.
