Brighton and Hove Albion 2 - 2 Notts County

Last updated : 23 March 2002 By Paul Berry
Stuart Garden was given an early touch of the ball but he easily collected a long-range shot following a free-kick as Brighton continued to apply the early pressure.

The pitch was awful and it quickly that both teams would take the long ball route rather than try and play football.

GOAL - on 5 minutes Daniel Webb chased a lost cause but recovered the ball and played it to Brooker. Brooker saw Zamora's far post run and picked him out beautifully before planting it in the back of Stuart Garden's goal.

Brighton 1 - 0 Notts County

A minute later Zamora easily turned Fenton and poked the ball through the middle for web but Ireland was able to recover and make a last ditch tackle.

Notts were struggling with Brighton's runs from deep positions.

Marcel Cas tried to relieve the pressure with a typical driving run but failed to create a real chance.

Booking - Caskey 6 minutes (Notts County) for a foul on Zamora.

From the resulting free-kick Brighton won a corner but Garden was able to collect Fenton's misdirected defensive header.

Booking - Fenton 11 minutes (Notts County) for a foul.

Brighton continued to dominate as Caskey fouled Webb and was lucky to avoid a second booking.

Notts became a little more assertive as the game passed 20 minutes with Cas's runs and Caskey's long balls threatening the Brighton defence.

On 24 minutes Brighton won a free-kick in a dangerous position but Carpenter drove the ball past the wall and just wide of the post.

Notts even had a spell of sustained pressure. Allsopp broke free but Cas's weak header from the subsequent cross rolled through for the keeper to collect.

After 30 minutes County appeared to have dealt with Brighton's early storm and Albion's runs no longer seemed to be as dangerous.

Huddersfield 1 - 0 Northampton

Notts County had their best chance of the game when Allsopp missed from 7 yards.

Bournemouth 0 - 1 Bristol City

Garden saved bravely at the feet of Webb as Brighton created their first chance in some time.

Booking - Carpenter 40 minutes (Brighton) for a foul on Allsopp.

Brighton went out of the first-half with a bang with Brooker rattling the bar and following up with a volley that went just over. A minute later Webb got in to the 6 yard box but he shot wide from a tight angle.

Cas found Allsopp in the box who shot but his shot was blocked by Simon Morgan. His subsequent cross for Heffernan was cut out by the keeper.

Bournemouth 0 - 2 Bristol City

Half-Time: Brighton 1 - 0 Notts County
Half-Time: Bournemouth 0 - 2 Bristol City
Half-Time: Huddersfield 2 - 0 Northampton
Half-Time: Bury 0 - 0 Port Vale

Brighton will feel unlucky not to have a bigger lead after dominating the first half hour. However County will feel more confident having come back in to things in the final 15 minutes. Magpies the world over will be hoping that Billy Dearden's half-time talk will do the trick. Meanwhile other results are going Notts' way and a defeat may not be that disastrous.

Kuipers was forced to make an immediate save as Danny Allsopp found himself unmarked.

GOAL - 48 minutes - Carpenter played the ball out to Hart who found Danny Webb who glanced the ball in to the Notts net.

Booking - Ireland 50 minutes (Notts County) for a foul on Zamora.

Garden was forced to make a good save from Watson's free-kick. Shortly afterwards Brighton won a corner from which Brighton were able to keep possession. Eventually they shot the ball wide when they should have scored.

Bobby Zamora was challenged heavily by a Notts defender and was forced to leave the pitch with a dislocated shoulder. The injury looks serious and he could miss the rest of the season.

Substitution - Pethick for the injured Zamora

With Zamora off the pitch Notts had a final chance to come back in to the game. The defence and midfield were free to push forward without the threat of the division's top scorer.

Substitution - 65 minutes Baraclough for Brough
Substitution - 65 minutes Hackworth for
Heffernan

Bury 0 - 0 Port Vale - Durnin sent off for Vale

Notts had a rare spell of pressure but Cas put an initial shot wide but Notts continued to attack.

Brooker broke free for Brighton but his shot was comfortably saved by Stu Garden.

Goal - 69 minutes - Goal by Danny Allsopp following a Caskey free-kick. Allsopp turned a defender with his back to goal, made a yard of space and smashed the ball in from a tight angle.
Danny Allsopp
Allsopp delivers


Brighton 2 - 1 Notts County
Bury 1 - 0 Port Vale

Brighton were on the back foot as Hackworth hit the ball high and wide from the edge of the box.

Substitution - 76 minutes - Steele for Hart (Brighton)

With 12 minutes to go Notts had every chance of equalising and as they played the better football. And there was great news from Greater Manchester.

Bury 1 - 1 Port Vale

WONDER GOAL 85 minutes - MARCEL CAS - a brilliant 35-40 yard shot from a Brighton clearance, over the head of the keeper and in to the top of the goal.
Marcel Cas
Cas is Class


Allsopp tried to play the ball through for Caskey after holding it up outside the box but the pass was cut out by Carpenter.

Substitution - 88 minutes - Oakley for Webb (Brighton)

County won a late corner but Brighton were able to break. Fortunately the danger was cleared by Kevin Nicholson.

The fourth official signalled four minutes of injury time.

Final Score: Brighton 2 - 2 Notts County att: 6,538
Final Score: Huddersfield 2 - 0 Northampton att: 10,783
Final Score: Bournemouth 1 - 3 Bristol City att: 7,033
Final Score: Bury 1 - 1 Port Vale att: 3,700


Brilliant come back by Notts, a great result moves us out of the bottom four once again and sets up the holiday weekend when Notts take on Bournemouth and Northampton take on Bury.