The first ever evening game under the new Amex floodlights saw Albion go through to the next round of the Carling Cup against their former landlords Gillingham. Gus Poyet made three changes to his starting line up and it wasn't an easy victory as the League Two side battled away to make it an uncomfortable if hard fought win for Brighton.
A mistake by Dicker nearly gifted Gills an early lead but as the first half wore on Albion began passing the ball around in their customary style and gained most of the possession, although for all their possesion there were not that many shots on target. The pacey Craig Noone and Will Buckley on the flanks began to wreak havoc and the Gillingham full backs did well not to concede as the sides went in level at half time.
The second half became a rather scrappy affair after Barnes scored a 67th minute penalty for what looked like a rather soft call by the referee to be honest when Buckley went down in the area. After that the match became more physical as Gillingham, clearly unhappy about the penalty decision, tried to get back into the game. Gills had seven players booked in what became a niggly and somewhat bad tempered second half period and young Stefan Payne was lucky to stay on the pitch after one reckless challenge left Albion's Romain Vincelot writhing in agony by the touchline. It was clearly a red card offence but yet again the ref showed a yellow.
After the game Gillingham manager Andy Hessenthaler was honest enough to admit that his player should have been sent off. Albion didn't really test the Gillingham goalkeeper too much on the night but generally did enough to win the contest and they never really looked like losing it. For a full in depth match report go to The Argus website here.
I guess it was inevitable that after Saturday's euphoric and emotional match against Doncaster that this game was never going to reach the same dizzy heights. No matter, Albion are through to the next round and we await to see who our opponents will be, let's hope it's a top Premiership side.
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| Ashley Barnes puts away the penalty (photo courtesy of The Argus website) |
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