By Tim Hodges from the Amex
Brighton & Hove Albion 2 Portsmouth 0
Albion’s Spanish superstar Vicente Rodriguez showed all his Champions League class at the Amex this afternoon.
The former Valencia playmaker replaced Craig Noone with just over half an hour left and smashed home two goals, his first at the Amex, to send Albion up to fifth place.
Abdul Razak and Gai Assulin were surprisingly omitted from the squad altogether. Craig Noone and Will Buckley provided Albion’s width and service to Sam Vokes and Ashley Barnes.
Craig Mackail-Smith was another surprise omission but he was at least on the bench.
The two wingers caused Portsmouth a few problems as Noone and Buckley swapped sides throughout the first half.
Gonzalo Jara Reyes was getting forward as well from his right back berth. The Chilean makes playing the game look so effortless at times he could be reading a favourite book while putting his in his shift.
Albion weren’t creating any clear-cut chances though. A few corners went their way and Buckley was constantly getting clear of the full back. And Noone had drawn enough fouls from Pompey defender Greg Halford to warrant Premier League referee Mike Dean giving him a yellow card. But the Seagulls didn’t really trouble Jamie Ashdown in the Portsmouth goal.
In fact before half time Liam Bridcutt played a wayward pass to Gordon Greer. The Albion captain had to sprint towards the by-line to retrieve it and then played the ball back to Peter Brezovan.
The big Slovak keeper hurriedly tried to clear towards Jara Reyes but David Norris nipped in although he could only fire over from the edge of the area.
Just before half time Albion had a chance from a free kick in a good position. Bridcutt dinked the ball into the box and two Albion forwards appeared to dive out of the way. However, a move which looked like it had been rehearsed on the training ground came to nothing as the ball would not fall to a striped shirt as it bounced around the area.
Goalless at half time, the Seagulls tried to gain the ascendancy soon into the second period. Joe Mattock got on the end of a Bridcutt cross but the former Leicester man’s shot shaved the post, hit Ashdown and went out for a corner. The move started with Noone’s quick free kick in the corner. The full back had been well placed on the edge of the six-yard box.
That was Noone’s last contribution as he made way for Vicente Rodriguez.
Almost immediately the Spaniard made an impact, picking the ball up and running from deep at the Pompey defence just as he did against Leicester and Leeds.
Portsmouth looked nervous as Vicente beat two or three players at a time and always played a simple ball to keep Albion moving forward.
Just as Albion were getting on top, Tal Ben Haim punted a free kick into the Albion box. Brezovan, who had little to do except a few routine catches, spilt it right in front of Marko Futacs. The Pompey man was upended by Adam El-Abd and the Albion fans held their breath. But Mike Dean, who may have been unsighted, was unimpressed with Pompey’s penalty claims.
Minutes later Vicente was brought down by Norris just outside the penalty area. From about 20 yards the Spaniard hit a powerful low shot past Ashdown into the bottom corner to put Albion 1-0 in front.
Vicente’s delight was obvious he peeled off his shirt and was mobbed by his team mates.
Soon afterwards Mackail-Smith, who had replaced Vokes just before the goal, was linking up well with Vicente, as Albion toyed with Portsmouth.
Pompey looked a little dishevelled and lacking ideas as a smoke bomb was thrown on from the away end.
Kazenga LuaLua replaced Buckley with about ten minutes left and it was he who got clear of Jason Pearce and Ben Haim and found Vicente on the edge of the six-yard box. Albion’s man of the moment stroked the ball past Ashdown to secure the win and bag himself a well-deserved brace.
After the match Vicente said that he hoped to be clear of his injury problems now and wanted to play as many games as possible. And that he was very happy with the style Albion play.
With the help of a translator he told Brighton and Hove News that he enjoyed living in the city of Brighton and Hove and that the weather here wasn’t as cold as he had experienced up north.
Although he found it a different type of culture to Valencia, he said that he was comfortable here.
Albion: Brezovan; Jara, Greer, El-Abd, Mattock; Bridcutt, Navarro, Barnes; Buckley, Vokes, Noone. Subs: Mackail-Smith, Calderon, Vicente, LuaLua, Ankergren.
Portsmouth: Ashdown; Ben Haim, Rocha, Pearce, Halford; Ward, Thorne, Allan, Norris; Futacs, Varney. Subs: Maguire, Kitson, Mokoena, Webster, Etuhu.
Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral).
