The view from “Paddy Power”
Passing on the chance to be overcharged to watch a game in Brighton from a stand somewhere in Worthing, and disinclined to support Rupert Murdoch, I opted instead to enjoy the game at my local, the “William IV”, while sampling some their many locally brewed beers. Unfortunately, while ten beers were on the football wasn’t, and a quick perusal of several other pubs in the vicinity revealed a distinct lack of enthusiasm for first versus third in League One amongst the good people of Leyton. No matter, another of my former locals has recently been converted to a bookmakers, and a glance through the window revealed the boyish good looks of Eddie Howe on one of the big screens – sorted! No beer, but a comfy stool to perch on, things could be worse.
With various quadrupeds in action on other screens (which seemed to get preference when it came to commentary) I had anticipated little interest the game from the rest of the clientele, but as the game progressed it gradually emerged that several customers had invested heavily in accumulators which depended on us losing, and so were playing close attention. If you didn’t have money on the outcome or an interest in one of the teams there was little in the first half to excite the neutral, with both sides largely cancelling each other out. Unlike the hardy few in the away end (I couldn’t make out my friends as the cameras can’t focus on things that far away), I was treated to the gory consequences of Michael Symes’ attempt to restructure the Brighton ‘keeper Ankergren’s nose in close-up, not the best advertisement for high definition television, and then the same player elbowing Elphick in the head. A text to the Withdean along the lines that he was lucky to still be on the pitch brought the understandable response “Couldn’t see a thing”.
It didn’t really need a close-up view to see the game getting away from us in the second half as the midfield were effectively shut down for the second game in succession and Pearce, Garry and Jalal were being worked far more than their counterparts. TV did give a good if unwelcome view of the dip and swerve on LuaLua’s shot that gave Brighton the lead, and an even better one of the bizarre mix-up that saw Bradbury attempt to head the ball over Jalal only for the keeper to fingertip the ball onto the post.
With none of the players doing much to impress the television audience it was left to Eddie to enhance his own reputation, and he had Plan B ready in the form of Steve Fletcher and some good old fashioned route one football. Brighton didn’t cope well with the aerial stuff, but it looked to be a bit of a bonus when the referee awarded a late free kick for a challenge on Fletch on the edge of the box, and an outright gift when he decided to consult his linesman and changed his decision to a penalty. The replay showed that he had correctly spotted a handball by Elphick but that it was outside the box. Pugh scored with ease – “Daylight robbery” came the text from the Withdean, the local punters were less polite.
Richard Barker, Leyton