SussexWorld's Matt Pole is joined by Brighton & Hove Albion writers Derren Howard and Henry Bryant, and Crawley Town expert Mark Dunford.
Albion were held to a 1-1 draw with struggling Burnley to leave their European dreams hanging by a thread.
We look back at the Seagulls’ draw at Turf Moor, and bring you the latest from Crawley Town’s League Two play-off charge.
You can read all the stories we are talking about with videos and pictures online at SussexWorld.co.uk/sport, and you check out other great videos on ShotsTV.com and Freeview channel 276
Albion were held to a 1-1 draw with struggling Burnley to leave their European dreams hanging by a thread.
We look back at the Seagulls’ draw at Turf Moor, and bring you the latest from Crawley Town’s League Two play-off charge.
You can read all the stories we are talking about with videos and pictures online at SussexWorld.co.uk/sport, and you check out other great videos on ShotsTV.com and Freeview channel 276
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SportsTranscript
00:00 Welcome to another episode of the Goldmouth Action Podcast, where we take a look at all
00:04 the latest goings on at Brighton and Hove Albion, Crawley Town and Sporting Sussex.
00:07 I'm Matt Pole and this week I'm joined by Brighton and Hove Albion writers Darren Howard
00:11 and Henry Bryan, as well as Crawley Town expert Mark Dunford.
00:15 Albion were helped to a 1-1 draw by struggling Burnley to leave their European dreams hanging
00:20 by a thread. We'll look back at the Seagulls draw at Turf Moor and bring you the latest
00:24 from Crawley Town's League Two playoff charge. You can read all the stories we were talking
00:28 about with videos and pictures online at sussexworld.co.uk/sport. You can check out other great videos on shotstv.com
00:36 and Freeview channel 276. You may also be watching on latest TV, so thank you very much
00:41 for tuning in.
00:42 But as mentioned at the top of the podcast, an Arianet Mouric own goal spared Brighton's
00:46 blushes at Burnley on Saturday. The Seagulls trailed to Josh Brownhill's 74th minute opener
00:51 before the goalkeeper's catastrophic error saw the team share the points. What did you
00:56 make of Brighton's performance?
01:01 It wasn't the best, Matt. You're right. It was a poor game, two terrible goals. It was
01:10 a point that didn't need the team much good. Brighton were trying to get their European
01:19 campaign and Burnley needed three points to have any chance of avoiding a drop. Really,
01:24 a point for each just didn't do anybody any good, really. The two goals, like you say,
01:30 they were two errors. Carlos Boliva, who had a pretty good game for Brighton in the centre
01:36 of the midfield, he's playing much more at the moment because of the injury to Billy
01:40 Gilmore. He was actually one of the positives on the day until his short back pass to Verbruggen.
01:49 As you say, Josh Brownhill sort of latched upon it. Verbruggen came out to clear it.
01:54 He was canoned off Brownhill and then into the net for a really scrappy goal. Then the
02:00 poor Burnley keeper, what he was... I don't know. It's one of the worst you'll ever see
02:05 from a top-flight keeper. I can't explain it. He must have just not been looking at
02:11 the ball, rolled under his studs and into the net from the tamest back pass possible.
02:17 So, yeah, 1-1. Not much good. As I say, the positives mainly for me were Jacob Moder.
02:24 He had another pretty good game in midfield as well. He's looking much better now as he's
02:28 coming back from his knee injury. I thought Van Hecker, again, he played very well at
02:35 the back alongside Louis Dunck. So, yeah, I would say that they were the three really.
02:40 Van Hecke, Moder and Carlos Boliva up until his mistake were probably the positives for
02:47 Brighton from a day which will be easily forgotten, I'm sure, by all.
02:53 Well, something that's marginally less positive is that a run of only three victories in Brighton's
02:58 last 13 league games have very much left their ambitions of repeating last season's first
03:03 qualification for European football looking less and less likely. This season, Henry,
03:08 started with so much optimism and obviously they've had great adventures in Europe. But
03:11 is the link season, do you kind of feel it's just petering out at the moment?
03:15 Yeah, I think so. And if you look at the last six games they've got, you've got the likes
03:19 of Manchester City, Newcastle, an informed Chelsea at the moment, Manchester United as
03:24 well that they have to face. So, it's going to be really difficult for the Albion. And
03:29 the way they've sort of been described, I guess, is Brighton have burst into the scene
03:32 like a shaken can of Coke, but now fallen very, very flat. And I think the rush of a
03:37 European tour has made it difficult to keep form in the Premier League. And another issue
03:44 has been the big gamble they had in terms of transfers and Ansi Fati has just not worked
03:49 out. The hype that the club produced for him was absolutely massive and the video went
03:55 absolutely viral. No one really expected this move and thought that it was going to give
04:00 Brighton and Hove Albion monumental results. But it's been, I'd have to say, a monumental
04:04 failure. He hasn't really proved himself at the moment. I mean, if De Zerby plays him
04:09 in these last six games, great. And he does really well for us. Then all is forgotten.
04:14 But we'll have to see.
04:16 Sam Morton was so excited when he signed. I mean, we all should have been, shouldn't
04:23 we be? He's been a huge disappointment.
04:24 We thought that was going to be a sign of things to come. Brighton going forward, buying
04:28 hot young talent from Europe's biggest clubs. And what have you put his failure down to?
04:33 Is it just been injuries that have kind of curtailed his spell at Brighton?
04:38 Well, I think that maybe a lack of confidence because he was sort of the star boy at Barcelona
04:44 and maybe that sort of, in the greatest respect to Brighton and Hove Albion, that sort of
04:49 fall from stardom to Barcelona to Brighton, maybe he wasn't cut out for it. Maybe he sort
04:55 of wasn't ready for that. And maybe sort of he had his sights set in a different way and
05:01 maybe his mentality hasn't been strong enough, like De Zerby has mentioned. And also, you
05:06 know, kept him out of the starting line-up and also the subs a few times this season
05:10 because of that. So, in terms of his failure, I think it's a little bit down to his mentality,
05:15 a bit of injuries and maybe those two sort of playing together and sort of dampening
05:20 him down and not being the player that we all hoped he'd be for the Albion so far.
05:24 Absolutely. Well, you've mentioned Roberto De Zerby there, Henry. Speculation has raged
05:29 throughout the season about where he may end up at the start of the next season and who
05:33 he might be coaching, but it seems as if his future has become a little bit clearer, Derren.
05:37 What's the latest on his future?
05:40 Yeah, there hasn't been any clarification, but the hints and the noises coming from the
05:47 club is that there's a bit more optimism that he will be there next season, which may be
05:53 down to the fact that the results have been so poor that other clubs elsewhere have thought,
05:57 'Maybe we'll just park him for a bit and see how he goes.' But if that's the case, I still
06:04 think it's great news for Brighton. For me, he's the best manager the club have ever had
06:09 and I think it would be a great coup if they can keep him for another season.
06:15 This season's been really difficult for numerous reasons, playing Europe for the first time.
06:20 There's so many injuries that they've had as well and he just hasn't been able to name
06:25 his attacking players that he wanted to. I asked him after the Burnley game, 'It's 11
06:32 draws this season, two more than any other team in the Premier League,' and he sort of
06:36 bristled a bit at the question. He was like, 'Well, why do you think that's the case?'
06:41 And so I said, 'Well, I'm asking you,' type of thing. But he was saying that it's because
06:48 of injuries, he hasn't had karamatoma, he hasn't had Solly March and it's just been
06:54 a really problematic season for him. But I think it doesn't look as though they're going
06:58 to play in Europe next season and I think that will help Brighton. The likes of Boliva,
07:04 Jakob Moder, Van Gecker, Buonanotte, they've all had a season in the Premier League. They'll
07:10 all be much better next season. And then if you get karamatoma playing on top of that,
07:15 if you get Solly March back, Evan Ferguson hopefully back into some form as well with
07:19 Jal Pedro, I think having De Servi at the helm next season will be a reason for optimism
07:25 for Brighton. So, you never know. It's still a bit up in the air. If a big team makes a
07:31 serious move for him and makes him their number one priority, he'll likely go. But the noises
07:37 at the moment are that it's looking increasingly likely he may stay.
07:42 Is that something you agree with on reflection? Obviously, you've mentioned the great adventures
07:54 you've had in Europe this season, but it seems to have come at a bit of a cost, doesn't it?
07:58 I think so. In terms of the way we've been playing, it really hasn't been the Brighton
08:04 way that we've hoped for in recent games, especially. I think the way that we have conducted
08:10 ourselves in Europe has been really good. Finishing at the top of the group was a really
08:15 big thing for the Albion, especially when it was being called the group of death. And
08:19 looking like Brighton, we're going to have a quick exit in some cases, especially with
08:23 that first game at home to Aic Athens. So, a lot of positives to take away. And yes,
08:28 I think in some ways, Brighton fans won't like the fact that it's going to take a small
08:34 miracle for us to land in Europe for back-to-back seasons. But I think in the long term, goals
08:40 for the Albion, if Deserby does stay, it'll be a great thing for the Albion to maybe build
08:45 back on. The only thing I fear as a fan is in terms of getting players to come to the
08:52 club. I think that push of European football was certainly the reason Anssi Fati probably
08:58 considered Brighton and Hove Albion as a club that he would go on loan to. So, although
09:03 that hasn't worked out, maybe other players of his may be similar or not so much, but
09:09 Albion's range of quality, considering the club, will they consider Brighton next season?
09:14 Only time will tell. But I think that's one of the key factors for a lot of Brighton fans
09:19 wanting European football next season.
09:21 In the here and now, Brighton are without a game this weekend owing to Man City's FA
09:26 Cup commitments. The two sides will meet at the Amex on the 25th of April, which is a
09:31 Thursday. Henry, do you think this break has come at a good time for Albion, a good time
09:36 to recharge and potentially stop the rot?
09:38 I think so. When you talk about the rot, that away game to Burnley, it was quite a really
09:44 poor performance. Only that blunder that will end up being used in Premier League compilations
09:49 for the next 10, 20 years about goalkeeper mistakes saved us there. We're very, very
09:55 lucky to be getting a point there against a really struggling Burnley side. It seems
10:00 like Brighton are running out of steam and ideas at the moment. The likes of Karim Matoma
10:05 that we've not got due to injury and his creative flair, we're really missing that at the moment
10:10 I think. And that idea of, as we mentioned, the back-to-back seasons in Europe not going
10:16 to happen really unless we do get some lucky results and also lucky results elsewhere.
10:22 But some positives, as Deren mentioned, you've got the likes of Jakob Moder, Boliva, who's
10:27 been good recently despite his mistake last game out, especially in terms of Van Hecker
10:34 as well. So, some really young, quality players. I think if Brighton can have this reset with
10:40 this week off and get some really good results against some good sides, I think the mentality
10:46 of the Albion going into their pre-season for the next season will be really greatly
10:52 mounted on and maybe will give us something to push on for.
10:55 Excellent, Boomer. Thank you very much for your time, chaps. We're going to take a quick
10:59 break and when we come back we're going to talk all things Crawley Town.
11:03 Crawley Town enjoyed a mixed week which left their League Two play of hopes in the balance.
11:07 The Reds suffered a shock 3-2 defeat, a home to third from bottom Colchester on Saturday.
11:12 Mark, listening to the post-match interviews, especially from Dion Conroy, it sounded like
11:18 a bad day at the office for Crawley Town.
11:21 Yeah, it really was. A couple of the goals were just absolute shockers. You laugh about
11:26 the Burnley own goal on Saturday. If you watch Colchester's second goal, I can't remember
11:33 which defender it was. It was him and Corey Adai stood there literally five yards apart
11:37 with the ball between them. Neither of them did anything and the striker came through,
11:41 knocked it off and crossed it. Somebody scored. It was laughable. Not for Scott Lindsay, obviously,
11:46 but it was for, if you're not a Crawley Town fan. But it was, yeah, and Scott Lindsay said
11:52 afterwards in those moments, that was the second goal as well, Will Wright had a back,
11:57 wasn't powerful enough and a striker ran through to beat Corey Adai. And he said in those moments,
12:02 they were unprofessional, his players. They said they should, no professional football
12:06 should be making those kinds of mistakes. So it was a bit of a shocker, really. I mean,
12:11 Colchester, they are fighting for their lives. So I didn't think it was a great shock that
12:16 they lost to them because I think it was the manner in which they lost, which really frustrated
12:23 Conroy and Lindsay. But yeah, it was a bit of a surprise, really. And again, it was the second
12:32 of their two at two pound games with Doncaster, lost two nil to Doncaster, three two to Colchester
12:39 in front of 5,000 plus crowds. So you got to think, are these a good thing? I don't know.
12:44 It is obviously a good thing. Yeah, it's the cursed games of the two pounds. But yeah,
12:50 it was disappointing. But it was, yeah, I think the manner of the goals were really,
12:56 really disappointing, especially when they got it back to one or you would always back Crawley to
13:00 be on top again. But yeah, no, not good enough.
13:03 Well, Tuesday night, I saw Crawley come from behind to claim a one draw home to fellow playoff
13:08 hopefuls Barrow. What did you make of the performance? On paper, it seems like a good
13:13 point. But yeah, it's so bunched, isn't it, playoff race?
13:17 Oh, it really is. Yeah. I mean, it was. Yeah. So it's six versus seven, that was. And yeah,
13:24 it was I think I think at the end of the day, I think both sides would be very happy with the
13:27 point because Barrow, I was really impressed with Barrow, actually. They they look so organised
13:34 and defensively, they were really good. But Crawley, they probably should have won it.
13:39 They had a few chances at the end. Clydie Lollos, he was in a hot form at the moment with his
13:44 scored quite a few goals recently. He had a header. And Scott Lindsay said afterwards that
13:49 he probably got too much on it. He just needed to glance it. But he got in. It just went wide.
13:54 And I think it was Adam Campbell and Liam Kelly both had shots that just went wide.
14:00 So they could have won it. But at the end of the day, I think Lindsay was much more impressed with
14:03 the performance and pleased with the response of his players because there wasn't any silly
14:07 mistakes. Barrow's goal was just a good goal across and their big striker, Emil Wacka, had a
14:13 'Corey O'Day, no chance at all' sort of thing. So but it's a good point. But yeah, they could have
14:21 done with winning that just to make the last two games a bit more easy, because they're not going
14:26 to be easy, those last two games. No, absolutely not. Sticking with the Barrow game, you mentioned
14:31 that Scott Lindsay was delighted with his players after the draw with Barrow, but he was left
14:35 angered by a decision by officials, which means one of his key players will miss the end of the
14:40 regular season. Who's the unlucky man, Mark, and how big of a miss will he be?
14:44 It's Jay Williams, who's arguably been Crawley's player of the season. He was playing in National
14:51 League North last year for Brackley Town. And he's been absolutely immense for Crawley this year,
14:58 playing in that sort of pivotal defensive midfielder role. And yeah, it was a really
15:03 odd thing as well, because there was Jeremy Kelly fouled one of the Barrow players. Then
15:10 Jay Williams came in and sort of got the ball and he sort of collided with the player as well,
15:16 because the player was on the floor. And he called Jay Williams over the referee and booked him. And
15:23 me and one of the other journalists sat there and was like, "That was Jeremy Kelly. Why hasn't he
15:30 booked?" Sort of thing. And it is Jay Williams' 15th booking of the season. So yeah, it's a lot
15:38 of booking. So he's sort of only got himself to blame in that sense. But it really wasn't,
15:44 he shouldn't have been booked for it. But it means now the rules are he gets a free match ban.
15:48 So he missed the last two games of this season. They get wiped out for the playoffs. So if they
15:52 do get into the playoffs, they'll be available. They'll then miss, I assume, the first game of
15:57 next season. But yeah, Scott Lindsay, because his body language when he came into the press
16:02 conference was really good. He was buoyed by the team's performance and how they played. Disappointed
16:08 they didn't have to get the win. But I don't think I've ever seen a manager's body language change so
16:13 much from happy to pure anger when he started talking about Jay Williams, because he was so
16:20 furious with the referees. He said it beggars belief. He said it's week in, week out. The
16:25 referee has an influence on the game and it shouldn't be like that. And he said that all the
16:31 people at that level are not full time referees. They're part time referee. And he said they need
16:36 to be full time to eradicate these mistakes. And I think he's right, because I am a great defender
16:42 as officials. I am a sporting official myself. But I've seen some shockers this year at the
16:52 Broadfield Stadium. Some of the decisions and it's for both sides. It's not just Crawley Town. Scott
16:57 Lindsay accepts that as well. It's just some of the decisions are just bizarre. And yeah, he was
17:03 just furious. And he is going to be a huge miss. But he was, Lindsay said, he was, Lindsay was asked
17:12 how you how do you cope when you miss such a big plan last two games? And Scott Lindsay simply said,
17:16 I've got good enough players who can come in. He thinks he believes in his squad, Scott Lindsay,
17:21 and he said that throughout the whole season. So although it's a huge miss, I think it also gives
17:27 them a chance to sort of be a bit more open as well, because when Liam Kelly was missing,
17:32 he was injured for six weeks. Instead of having Kelly and Williams playing as those two defensive
17:38 midfielders, they only played with one defensive midfielder and sort of pushed higher up the pitch.
17:42 And this gives them the chance to do that again, have Liam Kelly as that pivotal midfielder.
17:47 And then it gives like Ronan Darcy a chance to come in and play centre mid and just push up a
17:51 little bit further. And it makes Crawley more expansive. And when they did have Liam Kelly
17:56 injured, although you would always have Liam Kelly in the team, they did win games and they scored a
18:01 few goals. So maybe not, it's not a blessing. It's not good. It's not great. And it shouldn't be
18:07 that Jay Williams is missing, but it gives Scott Lindsay a chance to try something different.
18:12 Yeah, and at the end of the day, Crawley still remain in the playoffs, but just six points
18:18 separate the Reds from Seventh. And I couldn't quite believe this, Bradford City, who were all
18:21 the way down in 13th. Meanwhile, Doncaster, who were the informed team in the division, are ninth,
18:26 but they are also just two points behind Crawley with a game in hand. It's going to be tight,
18:31 Mark. How would you rate Crawley's chances of reaching the playoffs now?
18:37 I think it's, I think they will get in it. It's going to be tight because Doncaster,
18:43 although they've got that game in hand, if they were, if Doncaster win all their free games,
18:46 Doncaster get in the playoffs. It's as simple as that. But on Saturday, Doncaster play Barrow,
18:53 which is a huge game because it affects obviously Barrow and Doncaster. Then on Tuesday,
18:59 they've got Colchester away. Now Colchester are really informed. They obviously beat Crawley.
19:04 They beat Grimsby last night and on by Tuesday, though, it could mean that they could be safe by
19:12 Tuesday. So they might not have much to play for Colchester and Doncaster will have everything to
19:17 play for. So who knows? And then last game of the season, they got Gillingham, who can still
19:21 mathematically get in the playoffs as well. So Doncaster got three really tough games,
19:25 but Crawley have got Sutton who can still get relegated. Oh, and it will survive, but likely
19:32 to likely to go down. But Grimsby Town, who will probably have nothing to play for on the final
19:38 day. So I think Crawley would be disappointed if I didn't get at least four points from those two
19:43 games. And I can see Doncaster, they've been in such great form. Remember, they were 19 when they
19:49 beat Crawley on Good Friday. They were 19. But now they're three or two points off the playoffs.
19:54 Incredible. But I think I think they will drop points. So it is still sort of in Crawley's
20:00 hands and I think they will just do it, especially with the teams they're playing.
20:03 Yeah, we're going to combine the score predictions with Crawley's trip to Sutton. Mark,
20:09 you mentioned the plight that Sutton are in underneath at the moment.
20:14 Surely this Crawley have to win, don't they? There is no ifs or buts about it. Crawley have to win.
20:19 They do. Yeah, Crawley have to win. If they lose and then all the other results go against them,
20:24 then it makes that final game of the season so tough. But yeah, they have to win. But so do
20:30 Sutton. So it's going to be it's not going to be easy. I think they said last night Crawley have
20:35 nearly sold a thousand tickets for the game. So it's going to be a great atmosphere there.
20:39 It is a local Derby. And we spoke to Danilo Orsi after last night. He got his 20th goal of the
20:45 season, by the way, last night, which is a great achievement. He was saying these are the kind of
20:49 games you want to play in local Derby, both sides, one side fighting for their lives, one side
20:54 looking to get in the playoffs. So it's going to be I think it's going to be a really, really tough
20:59 game. But I think Crawley will have enough to edge it. I think that the attitude of the players,
21:04 they still sort of seem quite relaxed. They don't seem to be much nerves. I think they can just edge
21:09 it. And I think it will be it will be very tight and it will be nervy, but it will be two to one
21:13 to Crawley I'm going for. Two to one to Crawley. Darren, how do you see this one at Sutton going
21:17 there? Yeah, like you say, it's going to be such a tough local Derby as well. So yeah, I'm with
21:24 Mark. I think I think Crawley are going to get the job done. I think I'm going to go for an
21:28 optimistic two nil, I think. Oh, an optimistic two nil. Henry, do you share in our optimism
21:33 that Crawley are going to get it done at Sutton? I'm not going to play devil's advocate. I feel
21:37 like I feel like, yes, it will be a really tough game and they are really struggling Sutton. And
21:44 I feel like if Crawley are able to pick up some form and able to sort of turn the tide and maybe
21:51 get the job done early, I think they could be something like a two one score with them getting
21:56 two goals early and sort of holding on till the end. And finally for you, Mark, I've got a very
22:02 quick question and I want the first name that comes into your head. You mentioned it earlier
22:06 in the podcast, who has been your Crawley player of the season? Oh, God, I think it probably is
22:12 Jay Williams just because of where he came from and he suddenly become like the first name on the
22:19 team sheet. Him or possibly Will Wright. I think Will Wright's been really good for Crawley this
22:23 year. Can they expect a Mark Dunford award in the post is what they're probably all waiting to hear.
22:28 Well, the Crawley Town award ceremony is the day after the final game of the season, April 28th at
22:34 Lingfield Racecourse. I will be there presenting an award on behalf of the Crawley Observer. So I
22:40 don't want to give too much away yet. So the other players, Liam Kelly, Danilo Orsi. Yeah, there's
22:47 plenty of players. Clydie Lollos even. Corey O'Day has been brilliant. So there's plenty of names in
22:52 that hat. Well, let's hopefully they can cap a great season with a spot in the playoffs and maybe
22:57 promotion. Thank you very much this week, chaps. You can catch up with all the latest sports news
23:01 covering everything we've talked about today at sussexworld.co.uk/sport and you can watch more
23:06 excellent videos on shotstv.com and Freeview channel 276. Thank you very much for listening
23:11 and/or watching and we will see you all next week.