It doesn’t need a detective to solve Latics’ problem
Reporter: Matthew Chambers at Boundary park
Date published: 22 March 2010
Athletic 0, Brighton 2
16 goals in 18 home league matches simply not good enough
FROM the sublime to the ridiculous, two goals of radically differing quality hit Athletic’s chances of avoiding the drop to Coca-Cola League Two.
Elliott Bennett struck the first for Brighton at Boundary Park, his right-foot shot from distance five minutes before half-time as sweet a strike as will be seen in football this season.
It was so impressive it even drew applause from the home fans.
The second, an own goal by Jon Worthington shortly before the hour, was the result of a catalogue of comical errors from Athletic.
Had it arrived at the other end, it would have had the punters rolling in the aisles.
Either side of these two crucial moments, Dave Penney’s side had good chances to score but once again — quelle surprise, as Hercule Poirot may say — the team failed to find the net.
The best of those chances came when already two down. Pawel Abbott struck his penalty firmly eight minutes from time but it was saved well by Albion goalkeeper Peter Brezovan and Tom Eaves followed up by hitting the rebound against the underside of the bar.
Once again, it doesn’t take a fictional Belgian detective to work out Athletic’s ongoing problem.
An awful tally of 16 goals in 18 home league games is simply not sufficient for any side to have confidence of avoiding a bottom-four finish and it is this problem that Penney will again attempt to remedy before the Boundary Park double-header against Brentford and Gillingham.
This was not an inspiring performance from Athletic.
The team came into the game on the back of a four-match unbeaten run — but even that mini-sequence contained flaws that were once again evident here.
Chances were missed. The penalty aside, Abbott headed wide from inside the six-yard box in the first 90 seconds from Lewis Guy’s cross and Athletic’s top scorer was denied when his flicked header was saved by the diving Brezovan, who also did superbly to block a point-blank follow-up by Taylor.
That was it, though. Athletic were stifled by a five-man Brighton midfield who dominated possession, albeit without creating too many chances of their own.
And when the moment came to attack, the wings again produced precious little threat, while midfield duo Dean Furman and Worthington are not programmed to link up with the attack.
Penney made two changes to his team, Worthington starting a game for the first time in five months in place of Alex Marrow, and Danny Whitaker, who had one of those days when nothing went right for him, playing on the right of midfield with Deane Smalley dropped to the substitutes’ bench.
Things looked promising from an Athletic viewpoint early on.
A bright start almost produced the opening goal when Abbott nodded badly wide from Guy’s clever chipped ball in, before Brighton’s extra man in midfield began to tell.
Right-back Inigo Calderon had a license to roam and fired a 20-yard shot that Darryl Flahavan just managed to hold on to and Guy struck a left-footed effort from a tight angle which Brezovan did a similar job of looking after.
Then came the sensational opening goal. Bennett, formerly on loan with Bury from Wolves, cut inside Kieran Lee before hitting a peach of a shot across Flahavan and into the top left-hand corner of his goal from just outside the penalty area.
Athletic came so close to getting back on level terms a minute before half-time when Abbott’s flick and Taylor’s close range shot were both expertly stopped by the Brighton goalkeeper.
Glenn Murray climbed highest and should have directed his header from a corner better nine minutes after the break, before Abbott came close to sending Taylor in on goal with a scooped ball over the top of the visiting centre-backs.
Then came the moment no Athletic player will want to ever see again. First, Worthington underhit a back pass to Flahavan, forcing the on-loan Crystal Palace ‘keeper to scurry out and slide the ball to safety in the shape of Reuben Hazell.
From there, the ball was shipped to Paul Black, who wanted all the time in the world to chest down and clear despite being under pressure from Seb Carole.
The ex-Leeds United winger nicked the ball and skimmed it across the six-yard area. Murray swung and missed when heading towards the near post, only for the unlucky Worthington to instinctively follow up by firing home from so close in he could barely do anything else.
With Smalley and Eaves on the pitch, Athletic switched to 3-4-3 with Lee operating in central midfield and began to exert some pressure.
The penalty award, given for a handball against Tommy Elphick after consultation with an assistant referee, was a golden chance which was not taken by Athletic.
Another handball incident in the area, this time with Marcos Painter the guilty party in added time, was neither seen or awarded by referee David Webb.
But with Athletic in such goal-shy mode, it may not have made any difference had he pointed to the spot.
It was fairly sedate fare and many fans made their feelings known to under-fire boss Penney as the game trundled to its inevitable conclusion.
Body language was poor after second goal, admits Penney
DAVE PENNEY put a brave face on another home defeat for struggling Athletic.
Pointing to three good opportunities early on — two headers from Pawel Abbott and a close-range Chris Taylor shot — plus the missed penalty from Abbott late in the game, the Athletic boss felt the result could easily have been very different.
Brighton won thanks to a brilliant Elliott Bennett strike five minutes before half-time and doubled their lead through a Jon Worthington own goal three minutes before the hour, ending Athletic’s four-match unbeaten run.
“If you look throughout the game, we have had four great chances to score goals,” said Penney, who appeared at the post-match press conference an hour after full-time.
“Four proper chances. They have had one ‘worldy’ which has gone into the top corner and we have given them a goal.
“Here ends the lesson.
“We could probably get close (to Bennett) and show him down the line. But you have to hold your hands up and say what a good goal it was.
“Before that, we had three good chances to score goals.
“I get fed up with saying it, but if you don’t put the ball in the back of the net you ain’t going to win games. It is as simple as that.
“After the second goal, which we gave them and which was a comedy of errors, you could see the players’ heads go down. The body language was poor.
“Then we got a penalty and we had a bit of a go. We missed it, hit the bar and then had another chance to get something out of the game.
“We have been on a decent run, drawing two and winning two.
“This was a major setback.
“We have got a break of 10 days now (before the Brentford home game) and hopefully we can get the players refreshed and ready for the next two home games.
“If we weren’t making chances, it would really worry me. But we made chances and should have had two or three goals.
“If we had scored a goal with the chances we had, it would have been a different game.”
Penney denied that his midfield failed to effectively function against a Brighton side who dominated possession, pointing to the scarcity of chances that the visitors tested goalkeeper Darryl Flahavan with.
“They had three in midfield with their 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 formation, whichever you want to call it,” Penney added.
“We knew we would be a little bit lopsided and played Danny (Whitaker) out on the right to try to stop them playing and getting on the ball.
“At times, because of their shape, they had plenty of ball with their midfielders.
“But I don’t think they really hurt us. If you ask Flav, he had two shots to save.”
