Match Report 2002-2003
Saturday 02 November, 2002, Division One
Brighton Away
Everything looks worse here
Rodger 2-0
Here is not just the non-league setting of the Withdean Stadium. Here is the freezing rain, here is the long trek south and the prospect of not being back home until the next day. Here is a stadium that exposes you to the elements. Here anything other than a good win would seem like some kind of torture and this was not a good win, it was not a win at all. Far from it.
Brighton put a losing run to bed thanks to an insipid performance from the Bantams. It was the sort of display that makes you wonder how members of the City squad can talk with straight faces about the play offs. Mark Bower thought that four or six points from here and Reading would set up a play off push for the Bantams. Zero points tells it's own story.
One can only imagine Nicky Law's reaction when the team trooped in 2-0 down at half time to a Bobby Zamora penalty and a Simon Rodger strike. The penalty was typical of City's lazy display Gus Uhlenbeek bringing down the Seaguls man. City never looked up for the game as if the win would come easily. Two seasons ago when Brighton were in the third division people like Ashley Ward were signing £18,000 a week contracts for Premiership clubs. It should be easy, but thinking it should be will never work.
Law had said something during the break because the Bantams came out with some gusto. Andy Gray got his head to a free kick by the recalled Paul Evans and for a short time it looked like a revival was on the way. Sheffield United had gone in 2-0 down here two weeks ago but finished the game 4-2 winners. Sheffield United though have got something in their side that City lack, we know his name.
City have replaced Stuart McCall in the side but not in the team. The team lacks a leader on the field. It lacks someone to keep the players playing even on miserable trips like this. We have effort but often it is undirected. Make no mistake this City team is not good enough to talk in terms of promotion to the Premiership as play talk is, but the quality of the division is sufficiently below the levels the Bantam can play at that we should float towards the top.
A Wayne Jacobs push on Graham Barrett was the sixth penalty City have given away in six games. Steve Banks has saved two of the previous five, Bobby Zamora gave him no chance of making that three.
City had thirty/forty minutes to get the goals and it look like it could happened because of the woeful home side, but what Brighton lacked in talent, Zamora aside, City matched in lack of application. Things got worse five minutes from time when Ashley Ward went off with what looked a pretty bad injury, Michael Standing getting an appearance in the game he really longed to play in but no in the circumstances he would have wanted.
Home keeper Michels Kuipers brought down Stephen Warnock and was sent off to make injury time interesting. Andy Gray put in the penalty in Ward's absence but City could not muster another attack and so the game ended 3-1.
So are City going down? Probably not when you look at the lack of quality in the division but before we can go forward as a team we need to start being able to put in the same effort and displays from one week to the next. Inconstant is our style of play.
City were dreadful and will in the Unibond League within seasons? Everything looks worse here.
Man of the Match
Andy Gray
Best of a bad lot.