Fans let off flares as the M23 derby ends in a stalemate
After all the bluster and the fanfare, all the reminiscing about the stories behind one of football’s strangest rivalries, it was perhaps to be expected that Brighton’s long-awaited meeting with Crystal Palace would be a game low on class.
This was a night for huffing and puffing, for scrapping and pressing. It was also a night for Roy Hodgson’s Palace to finally show some obduracy on the road, and to keep their first clean sheet of the campaign. They had to fight for it, but Palace left the south coast with their first point away from home and, in doing so, reminded Brighton that even a game against the league’s bottom side will require all of their battling abilities.
This was just the 11th meeting in the so-called “M23 derby” in the past 28 years, and the first in the Premier League. But while it was an occasion to savour, it was a match to forget.
“The expectations from both sets of fans are very high, and players feel under pressure,” said Hodgson. “When that happens, the chances you’ll take risks and throw caution to the wind diminish, because you are so frightened you’ll be the one who costs your team with a silly mistake.”
Hodgson’s assessment spoke to a clear feeling of caution in both teams. Still, it was a shame the sides at times appeared to be in a competition over who could misplace the most basic passes. Crosses were overhit, underhit or hardly hit, while at one stage it seemed every second touch was a tackle.
“We probably gave the ball away more often today than in the last few games put together,” said Chris Hughton, the Brighton manager, whose side have now drawn their last four home games. “We just weren’t at our best.”
After 15 minutes of harrumphing and harrying, it was the Palace attacking duo of Christian Benteke and Wilfried Zaha who fashioned the first clear opportunity.
A long ball caused havoc in the Brighton box, allowing Benteke to prod towards goal, but both the Belgian and then Zaha were thwarted by excellent stops by quick-thinking goalkeeper Mathew Ryan.
The foray forward was the cue for the Palace fans to let off the first of a series of smoke bombs, sending red smoke billowing into the night. There perhaps would have been more had swathes of travelling supporters not been left waiting outside the stadium.
Brighton did eventually engineer half-chances of their own, with Lewis Dunk going close from corners either side of half-time and Dale Stephens firing wide with two long-range efforts.
A breakthrough always appeared unlikely, though, despite the pressure on the Palace defence gradually building in the second half. The closest the home side came was through a late Glenn Murray header that was cleared off the line.
“I am particularly pleased to keep a clean sheet,” said Hodgson, for whom Mamadou Sakho was terrific in defence. “Especially against a team who play as Brighton do and are particularly strong from set-pieces and free-kicks.”
After Saturday’s victory over Stoke City, Palace have now picked up four points in four days. These are clean signs of progress, and they looked a more solid defensive unit here than at any time this season. “It was important not to lose that momentum we are building up,” said Hodgson.