Brighton 1 Wolves 0
The Seagulls made heavy weather of defeating Wolves and the last 5 minutes were stressful as Wolves camped in our penalty area. Sam Baldock made light of my criticism that he is all hard running but no lethal striker with a powerful headed goal at the near post that ultimately separated the teams. Considering he was the smallest player on the pitch this was quite an achievement. Anthony Knockaert was back at his mesmerising best whilst David Stockdale made some important saves after a poor performance last season. With the Finnish national keeper as his number two and young Christian Walton in the England under 21 team we are not short of talent in the goalkeeping area. It speaks volumes for Chris Hughton’s style of management that he stuck by him. I made this point to Alan Tanner after the match who was critical of the changes every week made by Fulham head coach Slavisia Jokatonic.
I felt for Alan when I heard his boys were 2 down, both penalties. Alan feels too many silly defensive errors are being made, this time Scott Malone conceded two penalties in the first half. Both there seemed harsh, both poor challenges. Inspired by Stefan Johansen the whites pulled back to 2-2. Next month Fulham visit the Amex.
Brighton occupy third place and it looks like Newcastle and Norwich will be hard to rein in. I’ve a funny feeling that both Brighton and Fulham will make the play-offs. Sheffield Wednesday under Carvalal are always up there and I would not be surprised to see Birmingham too.