Seagulls, Added Time and a Blast from the Past at the AMEX as the Black Watch hang On

A much more straightforward and closer journey for me this week. It was a pretty quiet train journey and I didn’t really encounter many supporters of either club until I arrived in Brighton. There was plenty of time to kill, so I went for a walk. Twenty minutes later, I was back at the station and went for a coffee. I had a comfortable feeling about the match and getting something. We and I have a decent record there in the past few seasons, with the 2-0 and 5-1 wins being the highlights recently.

 

Confession time for those who didn’t know. I couldn’t get a ticket from Everton as it had been sold out for weeks. So I took my chances and logged onto the Brighton official website. To my surprise, it was straight forward. I put my details in, paid and got a ticket in the home section, although I selected a seat close to the away end. I’ve done this before, but unlike at Wolves, for example, I didn’t have to pay a membership fee before I could buy the ticket.

 

A random observation, like Liverpool, there are plenty of seagulls to greet you on arrival at Brighton, but they seem to be a different species and less aggressive. The last time I stayed at the Adelphi a few weeks ago, I was heading to Lime Street in the morning and encountered a right brute, a real big lad, perched on a council bin pulling away at something. He looked at me and hopped off the bin with half a discarded pizza in his mouth and headed in the direction of St John’s. I’m not sure the impact that would have on the food chain. Anyway, enough of my limited ornithology knowledge. It was time to make my way to the Amex Stadium. As is always in Brighton, they implement a queuing and filter system to get on the trains on matchdays.

 

I was surrounded by Brighton supporters on the short hop to the ground. They were all happy at this point. As we now know, this wasn’t to last!! Interestingly, there was a large French contingent polishing off a crate of fosters and lots of south-east Asian supporters. Time for food as I’d only snacked en-route. I spotted a van at the north end of the stadium. Not that I wanted it, and I’m used to paying extortionate prices at football matches, but £14.50 for fish and chips was taking the proverbial. I’ll wait, I thought.

 

There was a band playing on the sidelines before the match. I don’t know if that is normal, or just to welcome Everton!! Then the loud music started. It was more like Apres Ski than being at a football match. On went the flamethrowers with a few fireworks thrown in. I was glad once the sideshow had finished and we could get down to the football.

 

I need not have worried about being with the home supporters. They were a pretty passive bunch. I was mainly surrounded by south East Asians, or, more specifically, as I later found out, Japanese. A friendly bunch, they were all fully loaded with at least two shopping bags each from the club store and must have spent a fortune. Multiply that by however many were in other parts of the stadium. Brighton has latched onto something there. Good marketing, building on contacts through a player they must have discovered through their scouting network and are capitalising through it, not just on the pitch, but off it. On a par to our neighbours with coach trips from Ireland being ushered into the club store and flights from Oslo to Speke?

 

Also, behind me were a few east Europeans. They bought coffees!!

 

I have to say, one of the benefits of sitting in the home section is that they have really comfy seats, which I was able to actually sit in.  On my previous visits to the Amex and other alway days, it’s a case of standing up for the entire match. Always look for a positive, even if I was looking towards the nearby away end filled me with envy.

 

Onto the match, as I saw it.  

 

It started slowly; both teams, but obviously I was more concerned with Everton reverting to a slow game. Things picked up and then ignited as we approached half time and Beto chased down a Brighton defender to win a corner. Or at least I thought it was a corner. A Brighton defender was following the ref around the penalty like a lost puppy dog. Then I could see our players standing with the ball near the edge of the area. Maybe it’s been pulled back for a free kick? The lost puppy was still following the ref’s every step. I’ll be honest, at this point, I had no idea what was going on as it had all happened down the other end. Then the plot thickens. VAR Check – possible penalty. Well, what a sequence of events that was until the ref finally shook off his unwanted friend and awarded the penalty.

 

Ndiaye calmly slotted it away and then proceeded to do a seagull impression. Quality!! It’s great to see a bit of banter. Supporters dish enough out, so take your medicine when it comes back. So, drama just before half time. But not quite, as the 4th official put an additional 6 minutes up on the board. Cue a sign and massive groan and complaint from me! By now, my cover was blown. One of the stewards signalled to me just to temper it, but I was okay. Not ejected just yet!!

 

Onto the second half. As you would expect, Brighton came out with intent. I thought we would ride the storm, but we sat increasingly deep and I, for one, wasn’t comfortable. We defended stoically, however were ably assisted by Brighton seemingly not bringing their shooting boots. That’s not to take anything away from our defending; it was classic ‘you know who’ tactics and backs to the wall stuff, testing the laws of average and my anxiety too much for my liking. Brighton, for all their possession and probing, however, they didn’t really threaten too much, maybe coming close once or twice.

 

As it got close to the end, the away end started bouncing into song. The Japanese supporters near me were watching the Evertonians more than the match by now!! I was clock-watching again. Nearly over, but then up goes the board. 8 (count them) 8 minutes of added time. I wasn’t sure whether to cry, stay or go and pace around outside. I opted to stay.

 

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the whistle went, and once the school playground fight was over, the players came over to celebrate with the now very noisy blue army. I thought it was never going to end. I don’t think the players and supporters did either. I looked over even more enviously and eventually got moved on by the stewards. They were fine with me as we headed down the stairs. Finally ejected at the end!! We shook hands and they pointed me to where the Everton supporters would be, not that I needed it, but a nice gesture. The gates were open, many still on the concourse getting served. I tried to get in, but was turned away as once you leave the ground, you can’t get back in, so it was over to the station and ‘enjoy’ the queuing system to get onto the platform. 

 

A quick run down on the players:

 

That wasn’t Pickford’s best game and I’m glad he didn’t have a lot to trouble him. His kicking was off.

 

O’Brien is a talent who should be enjoyed. Apart from letting the ball bounce early on, for which he got a roasting, he was terrific.

 

Mykolenko wasn’t spectacular, but played his part in a solid defensive performance.