An Albion crowd of about 1200 outsung the home fans yet again. The rendition of 'Sussex by the Sea' while waiting for the teams to come out made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
Both sets of players done the majority of the warm-up in the 4 yards of pitch that was in the shade. The temperature was in the mid 30 degrees C, I got through 3 bottles of water just standing & watching the game.
The first real piece of action in the game saw new signing Henderson, wearing the 11 shirt, shoot just wide from outside the penalty area.
The ref was not on form today, there were a large number of sliding tackles from behind early on the game, for which free-kicks were not given let alone the yellow cards that were deserved. It seemed that this ref was going to allow any type of foul.
A long ball on about 20 minutes evaded our defence and saw Ben Roberts come out of his goal to collect it. Unfortunately he mis-timed his challenge and took out their player, well that's how the ref must have seen it, he gave a free-kick, but didn't even talk to Roberts.
On 22 minutes a corner was awarded to us, the ball came out to Chippy about 6 yards outside their area, who pumped it back into the area. An Oldham defender jumped for the ball with his arm out. 'Handball' shout the 1200 at the other end, the Ref points to the spot.
Then follows a debate between Leon Knight & Darius Henderson, with Danny officiating, over who is going to take the kick. Henderson is holding the ball, he's bigger, he takes it. Henderson plants the ball into the bottom left hand with the goalie going the other way.
What looked like a serious injury to one of their defenders held up play for nearly 5 minutes on the half-hour mark. Cue about 20 bottles af water being thrown on to the pitch for the players. The poor lino, in full sun on the other side of the pitch didn't get a look in. The player was stretchered off to good applause from both sets of supporters.
We had another chance that their goalie tipped on to the bar from a corner. The few attacks that Oldham mustered were defended well, the three Centre backs of Cullip, Mayo & Hinshelwood worked to good effect. Hinshelwood was my MOM often stepping up from the back to make well timed tackles to take the ball of their attack.
Just before half time a ball into the centre was headed into the back of the net from the middle of the box. The ball was travelling at about 3 foot of the ground, so it was no problem for Little Leon Knight to get his head on to it. 2-0 to The Albion.
We weren't playing that well, the heat was obviously not helping either team. we played so many long balls over the top of their defence that night was not willing to chase.
Second half was much the same until we won a free kick outside the area. Anyone who watches Brighton will know that their were 2 options from here. The first option is the kick that is aimed by Watto towards the far post for Bobby to run onto and glance in.
Well, Zamoras a Spur now so it had to be plan B. The free kick that DC runs on to and heads across the goal for someone to get on the end of. We were standing behind the goal, the ball was played by Watto from outside of the left of the penalty areato the other side of the box for Danny.
It was a bit high for Danny but he got his head to it and it looped across the 6 yard box finding little Leon, who aimed it at the goalie and their guy on the post. they somehow contrived to let the ball cross the line.
We were able to relax a bit now. We played some passing football, albeit with no penetration, for a while. We took off Henderson for Hart, and then Knight for Mcphee. McPhee showed a lot of good touches around the area, but seemed unwilling to shoot.
The crowd was announced as 6500, which was applauded by all. The ground has a 13,000 capacity and looked a lot more than half full to me.
Oldham scored a late consolation. a decent shot which looped past the Reach of Ben Roberts. The game ended 3-1 to the Albion. The ground was half full by the full time whistle as the home crowd left early in droves.
All the Albion players left on the pitch at the end made their way over to applaud the faithfull, who responded in kind.
The 5-3-2 formation cerainly worked defensively, but I feel limits oiur attcking options. We miss Harty running down the wing, and Knight was not going to chase the balls pumped over the top.
Will we play 4-4-2 at home and revert to this formation for away games?
the team was:
Hart for Henderson
Mcphee for Knight
Pitcher for Rodger
Kuipers
Harding
Both sets of players done the majority of the warm-up in the 4 yards of pitch that was in the shade. The temperature was in the mid 30 degrees C, I got through 3 bottles of water just standing & watching the game.
The first real piece of action in the game saw new signing Henderson, wearing the 11 shirt, shoot just wide from outside the penalty area.
The ref was not on form today, there were a large number of sliding tackles from behind early on the game, for which free-kicks were not given let alone the yellow cards that were deserved. It seemed that this ref was going to allow any type of foul.
A long ball on about 20 minutes evaded our defence and saw Ben Roberts come out of his goal to collect it. Unfortunately he mis-timed his challenge and took out their player, well that's how the ref must have seen it, he gave a free-kick, but didn't even talk to Roberts.
On 22 minutes a corner was awarded to us, the ball came out to Chippy about 6 yards outside their area, who pumped it back into the area. An Oldham defender jumped for the ball with his arm out. 'Handball' shout the 1200 at the other end, the Ref points to the spot.
Then follows a debate between Leon Knight & Darius Henderson, with Danny officiating, over who is going to take the kick. Henderson is holding the ball, he's bigger, he takes it. Henderson plants the ball into the bottom left hand with the goalie going the other way.
What looked like a serious injury to one of their defenders held up play for nearly 5 minutes on the half-hour mark. Cue about 20 bottles af water being thrown on to the pitch for the players. The poor lino, in full sun on the other side of the pitch didn't get a look in. The player was stretchered off to good applause from both sets of supporters.
We had another chance that their goalie tipped on to the bar from a corner. The few attacks that Oldham mustered were defended well, the three Centre backs of Cullip, Mayo & Hinshelwood worked to good effect. Hinshelwood was my MOM often stepping up from the back to make well timed tackles to take the ball of their attack.
Just before half time a ball into the centre was headed into the back of the net from the middle of the box. The ball was travelling at about 3 foot of the ground, so it was no problem for Little Leon Knight to get his head on to it. 2-0 to The Albion.
We weren't playing that well, the heat was obviously not helping either team. we played so many long balls over the top of their defence that night was not willing to chase.
Second half was much the same until we won a free kick outside the area. Anyone who watches Brighton will know that their were 2 options from here. The first option is the kick that is aimed by Watto towards the far post for Bobby to run onto and glance in.
Well, Zamoras a Spur now so it had to be plan B. The free kick that DC runs on to and heads across the goal for someone to get on the end of. We were standing behind the goal, the ball was played by Watto from outside of the left of the penalty areato the other side of the box for Danny.
It was a bit high for Danny but he got his head to it and it looped across the 6 yard box finding little Leon, who aimed it at the goalie and their guy on the post. they somehow contrived to let the ball cross the line.
We were able to relax a bit now. We played some passing football, albeit with no penetration, for a while. We took off Henderson for Hart, and then Knight for Mcphee. McPhee showed a lot of good touches around the area, but seemed unwilling to shoot.
The crowd was announced as 6500, which was applauded by all. The ground has a 13,000 capacity and looked a lot more than half full to me.
Oldham scored a late consolation. a decent shot which looped past the Reach of Ben Roberts. The game ended 3-1 to the Albion. The ground was half full by the full time whistle as the home crowd left early in droves.
All the Albion players left on the pitch at the end made their way over to applaud the faithfull, who responded in kind.
The 5-3-2 formation cerainly worked defensively, but I feel limits oiur attcking options. We miss Harty running down the wing, and Knight was not going to chase the balls pumped over the top.
Will we play 4-4-2 at home and revert to this formation for away games?
the team was:
Ben Roberts
Paul Watson, Danny Cullip, Adam Hinshelwood, Kerry Mayo, Nathan Jones
Charlie Oatway, Simon Rodger, Richard Carpenter
Leon Knight, Darius Henderson
SubsPaul Watson, Danny Cullip, Adam Hinshelwood, Kerry Mayo, Nathan Jones
Charlie Oatway, Simon Rodger, Richard Carpenter
Leon Knight, Darius Henderson
Hart for Henderson
Mcphee for Knight
Pitcher for Rodger
Kuipers
Harding