Slow starters Bournemouth rescue a point at Brighton

Match Report

1 January 2018

Brighton & Hove Albion 2 v 2 AFCB

Attendance: 30,152

Brighton and AFCB walk out at the Amex. 

 Bournemouth had to dig deep for a draw at the Amex stadium after Anthony Knockaert and Glenn Murray had helped Brighton to a 2-1 lead. Steve Cook had grabbed one goal back from a corner, and Callum Wilson mounted a rescue act from a goal mouth scramble just 11 minutes from the end. Bournemouth paid the price for slow starts at the beginning of each half and while they battled the wet conditions and fast attacks of Izquierdo, they had Asmir Begovic to thank more than once for keeping them in the game.

AFCB in their pre-match huddle.

Bournemouth rested a few players after the win against Everton. Ryan Fraser had a hamstring injury and was out of the squad, while Nathan Aké and Dan Gosling were put on the bench. Benik Afobe, Charlie Daniels and Harry Arter all made starts.

Brighton make a fast start.

Brighton made a lightening start with an attack down the left and Suttner flicked a ball in to Gross, who cleverly fed in Izquierdo, who squared the ball to his right for Knockaert to have an easy knock in on five minutes.

If Bournemouth were thinking they would have time on the ball they would be mistaken. Brighton were half a yard quicker and had made it count. Jordan Ibe tried to to reply quickly but shot wide on eight minutes. Marc Pugh also had a shot from the left which whizzed past the post on 11 minutes.

A Bournemouth corner was cleared and Brighton won a corner themselves on 21 minutes. Begovic then had to make a finger tip save from a Glenn Murray shot, but it was probably going wide anyway.

Ibe was Bournemouth's most promising player moving inside to get a shot away that Ryan had to get down fast to. The corner saw a Steve Cook header kept out from the six yard box, but on a subsequent corner Steve Cook rose well again to head in the equaliser on 32 minutes. 

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Arter then fed Wilson in space and the striker had his shot saved as the momentum swung to Bournemouth. Begovic was needed for a punched clearance  before a move involving Ibe and Pugh ended with Wilson sliding a shot off that Mathew Ryan just got to.

Brighton almost got back ahead when Murray and Izquierdo combined and Begovic made a reaction save for the ball to bounce back off Izquierdo before the striker could react. Afobe then passed to Pugh for a shot that was saved as half time came.

1-1 at half time.

Second half

Brighton came out fast again and a Brighton corner had AFCB on the back foot. Francis had the chance to come away with the ball, but only gave it away on half way and Gross and Izquierdo worked the ball back up the left before crossing for Murray to slide the Seagulls into a 2-1 lead on 47 minutes.

Bournemouth needed to find some rhythm and having their shots blocked was a common theme, while corners were not having much success. Brighton were also having little impact from corners with Murray seeing his shot blocked.

Pugh was replaced by Nathan Aké on 60 minutes, and Francis made a strong run and crossed well for Wilson only for the forward to get a push in the back that the referee did not see.

Afobe was subbed for Lys Mousset on 66 minutes. Mousset's first contribution was to lose the ball that led to a Brighton break. But Izquierdo found he could not beat Begovic in a one-on-one.

Arter was next subbed for Dan Gosling on 70 minutes. Bournemouth came forward again with Ibe making a great run and shot that came back off the post and against Ryan's back for a corner.

Brighton subbed Scheletto on 76 minutes and Steve Cook helped him off before Bruno came on. Another Bournemouth corner saw Wilson in the thick of it and the ball bounced kindly to him eventually for him to see the ball trickle over the line for 2-2.

Propper received a yellow card on 81 minutes. Both teams looked for a winner and Arter enabled Wilson to get another shot off that was saved. Francis picked up a yellow card before Gross was replaced by Brown on 88 minutes.

There was time for Glenn Murray to get a yellow card for a foul on Adam Smith. Three minutes of added time did not bring any winner.

Francis leads the applause.

Summary

Bournemouth did not cope as well as Brighton with the conditions at the start of either half and they gave themselves lots to do. Had Begovic not have been in great form they could have lost this game while I don't know what Ibe has to do to score. It was probably the best Bournemouth could do having so little time from their previous match and it is at last a time when they can rest a few more players as the FA Cup beckons next weekend.

AFCB Ratings

Begovic 8, Francis 6, S Cook 7, Daniels 6, Ibe 8, Arter 5, L Cook 5, A Smith 7, Pugh 5, Afobe 5, Wilson 7

AFCB have to settle for a point.

Cherry Chimes' MoM: Jordan Ibe

AFCB line up

AFCB subs: Boruc, Simpson, Surman, Butcher, Gosling, Aké, Mousset

Brighton
Ryan, Schelotto (Bruno), Duffy, Dunk, Suttner, Knockaert, Stephens, Pröpper, Izquierdo, Gross (Brown), Murray

Brighton Subs
Krul, Bruno, Kayal, Hemed, Goldson, March, Brown