Brighton 2 MK Dons 0

It speaks volumes for the demise of the FA Cup that the first 3 Brighton supporters I met all wanted the Seagulls to lose this cup tie so we could concentrate on the Championship. This is a view shared by most Premier sides who either have better fish to fry in European competition, or achieving one, or concerned about relegation. There a few teams like Southampton not too concerned about relegation but unlikely to get a top four berth who might want the FA Cup for silverware in the trophy room. The absence of a giant killing as well as fixtures spread all over weekend has added to the decline of  the oldest Cup competition of all.

True to form Brighton fielded a second team which still had the edge over MK Dons. It was good to see Beyem Kayal, Brighton’s best player last season, but out for injury, have a fine game. Solly March, another star of last season until he also had a bad injury, played. With Liam Rosenior out Brighton are in the happy position of 3 strong players ready to return so there is no need to play the January transfer window. Kayal scored with a low shot and his Israeli teammate Tomer Hemed – after missing a total sitter – redeemed himself with a second. This means that Brighton’s big match v Newcastle scheduled for the 28th January will be postponed as this is the weekend of the fourth round.

Finally an observation of how football is going. I sit in a corporate lounge where there are 2 long bars manned by inexperienced staff. I went up to order 2 glasses of red wine and 2 halves of Harvey’s bitter. I calculated I had to wait 10 minutes and watch the bar staff make 4 long trips up and down the bar to pour the beer, work out optics, register each drink on a cash machine before serving. The bill came to £14. The red wine at £5 per glass was undrinkable and I imagine the bottle would have cost no more than £2. I also imagine the great raft of corporates, some with clients, would be appalled by the cost and service. If you have two seats you get a car park space and sometimes cannot leave for an hour after the final whistle because every other car gets out first. We were out within 5 minutes as there was such a small crowd. At least the FA Cup has some benefits.