Brighton, A Rock But No Golf Club in Sight

Brighton who have a league game against Leeds on Friday evening put out what they called their second string.  One of whom was Craig Noon, a young man who had been told by Liverpool that he was not good enough and as fate would have it ended up put a roof onto Stevie G's new gym.

Talking of Stevie G.  This is was the game that had been earmarked as his comeback and it had also been made known earlier in the day that he would start on the bench.  The question of course was, at what point in the game would our captain return to take up his rightful position?

It became immediately apparent that the Brighton supporters were up for the game.  The atmosphere in their new Amex Stadium, which I believe holds around 22,000 was electric.  This was the game of their dreams after all the opposition was Liverpool Football Club.  Would those dreams though be tarnished or indeed allowed to come true?  Ninety four fantastic minutes later they were going to find out.

The game started with Liverpool immediately taking the upper hand.  The pass and move football was back and the speed at which it was being done was wonderful.  Craig Bellamy was a man on a mission and after seven minutes of fantastic link up play with Dirk Kuyt, he hit the back of the net.  Liverpool was off the mark and with Brighton looking a little shell shocked they continued to rule the game. Brighton for all the effort that they put in, found it increasingly hard to keep hold of the ball.  Luis Suarez and Dirk Kuyt were unlucky in front of the goal, having had shots either fall short or saved, but still it looked as though that second or third goal would soon arrive.

Unfortunately, fate was against us in that department, but what we saw, gave us all an indication off what could happen in the future providing things begin to go our way.  Craig Bellamy took a free kick 40 yards from the goal and it hit the post. Jay Spearing also had a fantastic goal denied to him by not the same distance but by hitting the post.

Liverpool went in at half time with Wembley in their sights and the hope was that their response in the second would be just the same.  But as with most of our games this season, complacency seems to envelope the dressing room at half time and Brighton appeared to gain the upper hand very quickly.  The pass and move football was there but it was not as effective as it had been in the first half.  Brighton was getting several corners and free kicks, some of which brought Pepe Reina into action. 

They were determined to try and force the game into extra time and this heralded the arrival of the man everyone had waited six months to see.  Stevie G was stripped and standing on the touchline ready for action.

He came on to rapturous applause replacing Luis Suarez, who unfortunately is going through a temporary goal drought at the moment. It was not a moment too soon though and from the moment Jamie handed back the captains armband, the team seemed to find its composure once more.  The passing became slick once more, with Stevie picking up some fantastic moves and moving around the middle of the park as though he had not been away. 

This made it very easy for our very own Duracell bunny Dirk Kuyt to pick up a ball and do what he does best.  Liverpool were now two goals up with Wembley in their sights but is appears to be the norm at the moment, Jamie did what Jamie does best and Brighton were awarded a penalty which was immediately fired home.  This seemed to set their players hearts alive once more and with the clock ticking down the last four minutes became a very nervy four minutes, but Liverpool are now in the next round and will find out on Saturday lunchtime who their opponents in the next round will be.

We must not take anything away from Brighton.  They played extremely well and if they do make it to the Premiership then it will add to the competition already there. 

The evening was rounded off in style for one young man. Craig Noon was interviewed with Stevie G and given his shirt.  A shirt that will ensure last night was an evening he will never forget.

For Liverpool it signalled the return of their rock - their captain was back and would help their assault on the league table and Craig Bellamy has proved that you really do not need a golf club to prove a point.