Brighton & Hove Albion 2 Yeovil Town 0
By Tim Hodges at Withdean
The Seagulls remain top of League 1 after dispensing with lacklustre Yeovil at the Withdean on Saturday.
Matt Sparrow dropped out with an injury and Kezenga Lua Lua took his place back in the starting eleven.
It was soon clear that the Somerset men intended to stifle the Albion as much as possible.
Brighton appeared to lack the industry and imagination to break Yeovil down early on.
Not for the first time this season Newcastle loanee Lua Lua had a couple of half chances to put the Albion ahead.
Then two bizarre incidents lightened up the first half. Firstly, Yeovil keeper Henderson fired a long clearance all the way down field, which looked for a split second as though it might squeeze past Casper Ankergren in the Albion goal.
Then, two Yeovil defenders got in a muddle on the edge of their own area and as Huntingdon tried to clear the ball it rebounded off Tudor–Jones and hit the bottom of the right hand post, with Henderson scrambling in his six-yard box.
Just when it looked like Gus Poyet would have to cajole his troops at halftime, up popped Lua Lua with a cross from just outside the penalty area, which Glenn Murray was able to loop a header over the keeper and put Albion in the lead at half time.
Soon after the restart one Brightonian replaced another, as Adam El Abd got himself a broken nose, and when Albion physio Jim Joyce was unable to stem the blood flow, on came Tommy Elphick who was soon in the thick of the action, with a header from a Bennett corner that stung Henderson’s hands.
Albion were now enjoying almost constant possession as Yeovil had less and less to offer. Dicker was pulling all the strings in midfield, ably assisted almost subtly by Kishischev.
Calderon, enjoying playing further and further forward, suddenly controlled the ball in a midfield position, cut inside like a winger and hit a delightful shot into the bottom right-hand corner for his second goal in as many games.
The Albion were on cruise control for the remainder of the match. Although Murray was trying his best to provide his strike partner Barnes with an opening.
In the four minutes of added time Ankergren made a super save from Williams, but the Albion, although not firing on all cylinders, were barely out of second gear all afternoon.
Albion: Ankergren; Calderon, Greer, El-Abd, Painter; Bennett, Dicker, Kishishev, LuaLua; Murray, Barnes. Subs: Brezovan, Elphick, Battipiedi, Hart, Smith, Bridcutt, Baz.
Yeovil: Henderson; Ayling, Huntington, Tudor-Jones, Smith; Kalala, Upson, G.Williams, Bowditch; S.Williams, Freeman. Subs: Sullivan, Jones, Williams, Welsh, Calver, Gibson, Baggridge.
Ref: Phil Crossley (Kent)
