Ravens view of Notts County v Brighton

Last updated : 24 November 2003 By Mark R
A quick dash to the Underground and we were in Kings Cross in time for a breakfast before catching the 8.55 to Nottingham.

Kings Cross station was full of Charlton fans going to Leicester, St Pancras was full on Exeter London Supporters going to Leigh RMI and Bournemouth fans going somewhere else. Quite a few Charlton fans also left from St Pancras. Their away support has certainly improved over the years they have been in the Premiership.

Our train was late arriving into Nottingham, we wanted it to be later as our mate had a hand held TV and we were watching the enthralling rugby world cup final.

We left the train with 7 minutes left and got in the pub with 3 minutes left, just in time to see England collapse the scrum and give away the penalty which Australia converted and took the match to extra time.

We watched that and the pub erupted when Wilkinson put us in the lead again, only to see another Australian penalty look like taking the game to silver try extra time. We didn't need it and as I predicted Wilkson won the world cup in the last minute for us with a brilliant drop goal considering the pressure he was under and the fact he had already missed 3 drop goal attempts!

We drank up and moved on to the Lincolnshire Porter and celebrated the morning/afternoon away, the real ale bods revelling in the choice of beers, the local cider was good as well. We eventually got a taxi to the ground and took our seats up just after the match had started.

The 1,000 or so Albion fans made plenty of noise and for once the team played football. El-Abd was playing at right back, Piercy started and Jones was recalled. Hinshelwood and Watson didn't even make the bench.

The difference to the previous matches was staggering. We played the ball about, Jones passed the ball around and covered Mayo who had a great match pushing forward knowing he had somebody to support him.

El-Abd had a great game at right back, once again playing the ball out rather than hoofing. Cullip and Butters were back to being a solid central pair and very little got through them.

In midfield Yeates had a superb match, he made some great mazey runs, taking the pressure off the defence. McPhee and Knight were superb.

We went 1-0 when Mayo crossed a ball in and Knight deflected the ball into the bottom corner. It was a superb first time finish and showed the class he had.

The Referee then got involved and for the 2nd away game running, a penalty was awarded with no appeals from the home side. Our players hassled the referee but he stood firm and it was 1-1 .

Deservedly we went up the other end and before you knew it Knight had the ball in the net again!

We battled and battled and Notts County hit the bar, but we stood tall and strong at the back and counter attacked with good effect, holding the ball up and relieving the pressure.

Piercy was off and we made a double sub before the game restarted. We survived the extra 4 minutes and the players were over and celebrating with us at the final whistle.

We headed back for the station, arrived back in London just after 7pm and managed to be back at Haywards Heath by 8.30 and home just after 9pm.



Ratings

Roberts - 6 did all that was asked of him
El-abd - 6 good first display in league debut
Butters - 6 back to good partnership with Cullip
Cullip - 8 the return of the captain
Mayo - 7 pushed up well and defended well
Piercy - 6 stupid sending off, but battled well and deserves another start
Yeates - 8 great display and showed the potential he has
Carpenter - 6 nice to have others around him to take some of the responsibility
Jones - 7 welcome back to the good player we know he can be
Knight - 10 brilliant goals, never gave up
McPhee - 8 linked up well with Yeates, Piercy and Knight

Subs
Harding (for Yeates 88 minutes)
Pethick (for McPhee 88 minutes)

Keeley, Rehmen and Robinson not used