The West Stand Senior on Ipswich vs Brighton

Pre-match thoughts

Tonight’s opponents, Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club are more simply known as Brighton, or the Seagulls. I don’t think this nickname needs any explanation, coming from a town where it’s necessary to hang on to your lunch when picnicking on the esplanade.  

The last top-flight meeting between the sides at Portman Road was on 15 January 1983, when John Wark and Alan Brazil scored in a 2-0 win for Ipswich—great names to remember.

The four most recent league meetings have produced three goals, with September's reverse fixture ending 0-0.

Stats have it that Brighton have attempted 106 shots from outside the penalty area in this season's Premier League, the third-highest total before the midweek fixtures. We must watch out for those long shots!

Brighton are currently 11th in the table, which makes it feel like a win is possible, more so than against some of our previous opponents sitting at the top. With the home advantage hopefully playing a part in this game, I’m hoping this will be the three-pointer that we would like it to be.

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as an ‘easy’ game in this league, so I shall set off with fingers crossed and lungs at the ready.

In the queue to get in, I met a very friendly guy called John, with his friend only known as ‘The man without even a jumper on’. I appreciated the hug from the aforesaid.

First half

We started slowly as if weighing up the opposition, and Brighton had the most possession early on but lacked any convincing firepower. Town had two or three good shots on target, the best one being a cracking attempt by Nathan Broadhead. Delap blasted one too, but it was sadly straight into the goalkeeper’s hands, who stretched to palm away a good shot from Hutchinson as well.

As the half wore on, Town seemed to pick up the pace and get into the game more and more. With no score at halftime, it was all to play for, and I was optimistic about the likelihood of goals in the second half for us.

Half time

Very unusually, the little lady who sits behind me experienced an unpleasant encounter with a rude individual. She dealt with it perfectly by totally ignoring it and him, not sure I would have had the same sangfroid, but hats off to her.

I chatted with my seat neighbour Gary about the Bristol game, as he couldn’t make it, and hadn’t seen any footage yet accept for poor Ali’s penalty. They say misery loves company, but people do like to share that with others, too.

I know everyone has their own perspective on the same game, but I do hope that won’t be the abiding memory from that match. For me, it will be the clever, free-flowing play of a team in harmony and the great goal scored by Phillips.

Second Half  

I'm not sure what happened, but it seemed very much as though two different teams came out after the break. Brighton stepped up the pace, and Town seemed to struggle for a rhythm. I can remember one decent attempt on goal by Burns which went wide. The general consensus, however, was that they didn’t play well.

Mitoma, for the Seagulls, scored in the 59th minute and Rutter in the 81st minute. Our defensive efforts at least precluded goals from any long shots by them.

I find it difficult to criticise this game as I disliked Brighton’s tactics. They broke up the game and were seemingly allowed to get away with it. For every foul they committed on one of our players, they fell to the floor and stayed there as if they had been pole-axed. It made for a frustrating game to watch and I imagine an even worse one to play.

Final Score Ipswich 0-2 Brighton.

Men of the match

Broadhead used his speed to good advantage and often opened up the game for Town. For long looping pass accuracy, my vote goes to Phillips. Hutchinson showed tenacity as always.

Man of the Match: Christian Walton for a brilliant finger-tip save and a cool head under constant fire and scrambled corners. Without that, the score could have been higher in the second half.

Round up

Pedro should have been shown a red card for his horrendous charge into Walton. There are also times when their second goal would have been disallowed for offside – but it was one of those games. One we need to forget.

View from the train

There wasn’t one. It was very crowded, but barely a word was spoken. No one had the heart. I can only reiterate – it was one of those games.

One we need to quickly forget and move on.