Brighton loses crucial match

Press, 23 May 1977, Page 22

Brighton loses crucial match

B

BARNEY ZWARTZ

New Brighton’s 1978 Rothmans Soccer League prospects look very grim. Brighton’s depression sank lower than the weather at Queen Elizabeth II Park ! a esterday as it was lucky to ' lose to Eastern Suburbs by Losing this crucial fixture * with one of its main rivals 1 for the third relegation spot ' f-fft Brighton in deep . Brighton’s habit of reaching mie extreme or the other * i proverbial, and Suburbs is : its bete-noire, but seldom j has the Christchurch sided been so abjectly humiliated. i' The curtain raiser. South ) Island under-16 v. North Is-', land under-16, was a much i better game, and perhaps the ( seasiders could have profited ' by watching it. The Suburbs'] players glanced at it. As the game wore on the ■ Br.ghton team became totally demoralised and , panic-stricken, and the coach t (Martin Stewart) must take ' some of the blame. He introduced his umpteenth positional changes . for the game, using the ■ same players, so they yet ■ again faced the difficulty of ' learning to play together in i n»w positions. That it was t bevond them was made ob- 1 vious by the frequent mudBefore the game was three,, ouarters of the way through ’ the defence had been torn I wide open 11 times. :

besides the five goals, Suburbs had two disallowed. Bill de Graaf ; hit the bar. Gar? Jenkins had « an incredible miss, and Tony j Clayton made two despairing'! tackles at the last second for ! Brighton to clear what seemed i to be certain goals. < Although Suburbs had a comprehensive win beyond its ] dreams, it too showed why it is 1 at the lower end of the table, de- i spite its undoubted talent. The side often lacked discipline!] and the defence especially was < fortunate to get away with some); crazy actions — against a more}] composed side they almost certainly would have been punished, il Brighton never settled from a i goal in the first minute, and an 1 excellent goal at that. John:] Holmwood took a free kick for Suburbs near the corner, Jen- 1 kins flicked it on with his head'< for the unmarked de Graaf to I < volley home. i Nine minutes later de Graaf j 1 netted from a corner with a su- h perb 30 yard shot, but the whis-;< tie had already gone for a Sub-, iurbs infringment. Ten minutesil later a vicious dipping shot from 11 (the same player clipped theii crossbar with Richard Wilson, in goal, stranded. I Jenkins scored the first of his c two elegant and superbly taken goals after 26 minutes when Tomjt Bell headed a corner from the i t far post to the near post and: Jenkins back-heeled the ball just is inside. t His astonishing miss came sev-ij en minutes later when he broke 1 through at the edge of the area J with only Wilson to beat and his* shot was centimetres wide, though be had plenty of room. Brighton never looked like * scoring in the first half, after . < which it was 2-0 down, but it had $ a great chance three minutes in- j to the second. Paul Glasson gave an excellent ball to Mike Glubb. j but Johan Verweij — faced with s an emptv net — just over-ex.! J tended his run and could hot . reach the ball. i. One minute later Peter Henry, a half-time substitute, put Sub-.? iurbs three up by displaying mar-li ■veilous skill to pull the ball on- < to his right foot and chip over] I Wilson’s head from an acute c angle. t

After eight minutes Suburbs scored another lovely goal when Jenkins raced wide, drawing the! sole defender, and back-heeled! the ball into Ray Meat’s path.; Mears capped his fine blind-side run when his shot rocketed in oft' the post. Brighton, which up to now; had played with urgency, though; little purpose and no composure, now seemed to disintegrate. Twenty minutes into the half ' Henry gave Jenkins a delicate cross, and the Suburbs striker lamazingk volleyed on the turn in the air. Graham Daeombe scored Brighi ton’s goal 15 minutes from time when he met at the far post a hard, driving -low cross from Franco Madrussen. By this time Suburbs had relaxed and was playing with a ’casualness that displayed utter contempt. Brighton was no longer; in a state to take any advantage,; i but it could have scored a cou- ( • pie in this period with an ounce of luck. In the curtain raiser. South Island under-16 beat its North Islland counterpart. 2-1, after leading 1-0 at half-time. Stuart Scarcliffe, Christchurch United’s director of junior coaching, took the southern team while Doug Moore, the southern regional coach took the northern team. This meant whatever the result Moore could not lose. Even though his side lost he has had nearly all the southern team in bls hands at some stage and can claim some credit for their win. The North Island was strongly favoured and looked much more promising until Erich Reiser scored an excellent goal for the South Island, flicking a corner into the net with a great glancing header. Michael Gilchrist extended the: lead in the second half when! sheer persistence forced an er-J ror from the North goalkeeper,; and Gilchrist was in the right; place to knock the ball home. North dominated the rest of the game, and could have drawn if its players had had more confidence. But they did not seem to believe in themselves until lan de la Haye pulled one back for them near the end.