Burke strike sinks Seagulls

7:48pm Saturday 29th September 2012 in Sport By Brian Owen

Chris Burke strikes the winner past Tomasz Kuszczak (photos Simon Dack) Chris Burke strikes the winner past Tomasz Kuszczak (photos Simon Dack)

Albion suffered their first defeat since the opening day of the season today.

But Birmingham’s grafting 1-0 success at The Amex was not enough to knock them off the top of the Chamionship.

Chris Burke stunned The Amex with a super finish on 27 minutes.

He latched on to Gordon Greer’s clearing header and unleashed a volley from outside the box which flew in just under the bar.

Albion had plenty of possession and got some dangerous balls across the Birmingham goalmouth.

But they struggled to seriously trouble Blues keeper Jack Butland as the visitors did a solid containing job.

Blues might even have doubled their lead soon after Burke’s strike when Leroy Lita scuffed his shot after being played in behind the defence.

The second half was delayed by 20 minutes due a temporary floodlight failure.

When play resumed, Albion swarmed towards the North Stand goal and Wayne Bridge was a constant threat.

But they struggled to pierce the massed City ranks or bring the best out of Butland, whose most worrying moment came when a driven cross by Bridge deflected off target.

Comments(25)

mikeygit says...
7:52pm Sat 29 Sep 12

What a shame- but I fear Birmingham will not be the strongest challenge for Albion and we need to get back into winning and scoring ways. Dobbie or Lopez did not make the difference. But still top---early days and so many so close behind

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seagullsforever73 says...
8:09pm Sat 29 Sep 12

Albion were rubbish, although a complete biased ref from the West Midlands didn't help an his mate on the touch line needs a refresher course, he flaged brighton ofside when brum had the ball, a complete knob!
At least this day comes with Albion sitting top of the tree!
Am a totally gutted fan as I travel back to scum Hampton .

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pappaK says...
8:46pm Sat 29 Sep 12

As the Art Mistress said to the Gardner,Lack of depth and width,lack of movement,Lack of penetration,Lack of new idea`s,leaves frustration for everyone.BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD.

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BHA Dave says...
8:50pm Sat 29 Sep 12

Final ball incredibly poor, either into Butlands hands or onto the head off a defender.. That said, we r still top and can't complain. 3 points on Tuesday to take us into another winning run.

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Ringmer Rich says...
9:06pm Sat 29 Sep 12

pappaK wrote:
As the Art Mistress said to the Gardner,Lack of depth and width,lack of movement,Lack of penetration,Lack of new idea`s,leaves frustration for everyone.BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD.
I don't know what game you watched, but I saw a game where we had countless corners, numerous attacks and crosses from Buckley, Bridge and Lua lua. Lopez powering forward, running straight at them. Dobbie in the thick of it being a constant threat. We were undone by a good strike and a very solid and organised side defending well and countering very quickly. As to lack of ideas, there were quite a few intricate passing moves that nearly came off. It wasn't our day, and there seemed to be a lot of questionable decisions made by the officials who hailed from the west midlands... hmmm.

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Neville says...
9:09pm Sat 29 Sep 12

A wasted opportunity to go 4 pts clear.
Great to be top but the same continued failings i.e the final ball and how we need a target man. All the crosses were gobbled up by the Birmingham defence who weren't the biggest themselves.
We had all the possession but no punch up front.The referee was abysmal as were the linesman and the referee shud have napped the goalkeepers time wastings tactics right from the start. Anyone know why Orlandi or Crofts were'nt in squad. Finally I just wish Poyet would try 2 wingers at home but he never does,very frustrating and hope we don't rue this at the end of the season.

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Neville says...
9:09pm Sat 29 Sep 12

A wasted opportunity to go 4 pts clear.
Great to be top but the same continued failings i.e the final ball and how we need a target man. All the crosses were gobbled up by the Birmingham defence who weren't the biggest themselves.
We had all the possession but no punch up front.The referee was abysmal as were the linesman and the referee shud have napped the goalkeepers time wastings tactics right from the start. Anyone know why Orlandi or Crofts were'nt in squad. Finally I just wish Poyet would try 2 wingers at home but he never does,very frustrating and hope we don't rue this at the end of the season.

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keswick says...
9:31pm Sat 29 Sep 12

Neville wrote:
A wasted opportunity to go 4 pts clear. Great to be top but the same continued failings i.e the final ball and how we need a target man. All the crosses were gobbled up by the Birmingham defence who weren't the biggest themselves. We had all the possession but no punch up front.The referee was abysmal as were the linesman and the referee shud have napped the goalkeepers time wastings tactics right from the start. Anyone know why Orlandi or Crofts were'nt in squad. Finally I just wish Poyet would try 2 wingers at home but he never does,very frustrating and hope we don't rue this at the end of the season.
Have to agree that the lack of a target man meant the lack of a focal point. When CMS plays his constant movement opens up the space for others ie AB. Don't think Dobie is fully match fit and worry that Gus cannot have enough faith in Toby to at least give him ten minutes at the end to try something different. Doesn't appear that there are any alternatives for Tuesday so hopefully we will see a reaction to tonight.

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namgo49 says...
9:32pm Sat 29 Sep 12

Just one of those games where we did not really look like we were going to do anything, Birmingham's game plan was to harry us in midfield and play the offside trap which were mug enough to fall in to too many times. Having said that though, the referee had a really really poor game as did both his assistants.

Dobbie is not a striker and looks more comfortable in the Barnes role.

I thought may Kuszczak could have saved but then again Burke should not have been given the time to make the shot, poor defending.

Hammond was poor. Calde, as much as I like the bloke, is no Bruno. Lopez brought nothing to the game, doesn't look particularly fit and and has no power. The bench looked a bit thin to be honest and there was no-one there you thought could come on and salvage something for us. I would have kept Buckley on. He was the only one likely to get a goal for us.

Bridge was unbelievably good and deserved to be on a side that got at least a point, which I thought we would have been worth.

A response from Birmingham was inevitable and I have to say I was not surprised we lost. They may turn in to a bogey side. We need to get back to winning ways on Tuesday though!!

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The Phantom says...
9:33pm Sat 29 Sep 12

Birmingham came for a 0-0 and got a win with a terrific strike. Albion player some great stuff and plenty of decent crosses, just no-one on the end of them. As I have mentioned before Dobbie has generally been used at previous clubs as a link striker rather than someone who will play up on his own. Didn't deserve to lose the game but didn't have enough goal attempts to be considered unlucky. Think the Ipswich game will be more open and confident we will be back to winning ways then.

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Hovite says...
9:46pm Sat 29 Sep 12

Birmingham were poor, but scored a good goal out of nowhere.

Was bored most of the game, however the full moon was looking good over the Amex and we are still top of the league. It could be worse.

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Alfie T says...
9:49pm Sat 29 Sep 12

Poor decisions and the final ball cost us today, really missed CMS, Barnes talked himself out of a committed performance today, more worried about getting booked than getting in where it was needed. Dobbie and Lopez looked very ordinary, Buckley not as direct as usual, apart from a wonder strike,the game had nil nil all over it. One to forget today, very confident that we will beat Ipswich comfortably Tuesday night.

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SecondReserve says...
9:51pm Sat 29 Sep 12

That was extremely disappointing. Not just because we lost – after all we are still top of the table. What was worrying was that it was last season all over again. Lots of possession, lots of good passing at the back and in midfield but absolutely nothing as an attacking force. We had very few shots (on or off target) and the fact is that Butland did not have a serious save to make in the entire match. As always when we lose people are blaming the referee: it wasn’t his fault, the vast majority of his decisions were correct. The reason we lost was that our attacking players were very poor indeed. And to think that our reject Barn Door Craig Davies scored 4 against Birmingham last week.

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SecondReserve says...
9:51pm Sat 29 Sep 12

That was extremely disappointing. Not just because we lost – after all we are still top of the table. What was worrying was that it was last season all over again. Lots of possession, lots of good passing at the back and in midfield but absolutely nothing as an attacking force. We had very few shots (on or off target) and the fact is that Butland did not have a serious save to make in the entire match. As always when we lose people are blaming the referee: it wasn’t his fault, the vast majority of his decisions were correct. The reason we lost was that our attacking players were very poor indeed. And to think that our reject Barn Door Craig Davies scored 4 against Birmingham last week.

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tonytowner1 says...
10:10pm Sat 29 Sep 12

Bridge was sensational - by far our most exciting player of the evening - bodes well when our other best players of the current time - CMS, Vicente, Bruno, Orlandia and Crofts all manage to play a game - we seem to, as per last season have an injury/ sickness/ ?? issue? Players possibly coming back who never quite do for a further 2 - 3 matches - still, it gives The Argus something to report on in empty weeks. An opportunity missed but great to see us really go for it for the last 30 minutes or so - that so often wouldn't have been the case a little while back even at 0 - 1 at home, would it. Bring out the shooting boots again - and stick Lua Lua on from the start a little more often - excitement, incision and shots lead to goals. Bring on Tuesday

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seagulltess says...
11:03pm Sat 29 Sep 12

Lets be honest; this Albion side today, Hammond apart was the same side we were watching last season, with no idea of how to break sides down. It was slow and lacked any penetration. If not for a fantastic performance from Wayne Bridge it was pretty awful. Did not think much of either of the new players; Lopez is to lightweight and did not produce anything better than the players we already have. Dobbie looked lost and on that showing also looksno better than the rest. Without Mackail Smith and Bruno we looked very average

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Baldseagull says...
11:33pm Sat 29 Sep 12

seagulltess wrote:
Lets be honest; this Albion side today, Hammond apart was the same side we were watching last season, with no idea of how to break sides down. It was slow and lacked any penetration. If not for a fantastic performance from Wayne Bridge it was pretty awful. Did not think much of either of the new players; Lopez is to lightweight and did not produce anything better than the players we already have. Dobbie looked lost and on that showing also looksno better than the rest. Without Mackail Smith and Bruno we looked very average
lets be honest, this Albion side today, apart from Hammond (and Wayne Bridge, and Steven Dobbie, and Tomas Kuszac,and the substitute Lopez) were the same side we were watching last season.

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BHA Dave says...
7:11am Sun 30 Sep 12

Heard some negative comments about Dobbie which are crazy. The guy clearly needs matches to get match fit and for him to gel into the team. Gus will kick the rest up the backside and I'm sure it will b 3 more points Tuesday night.

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MackGull says...
11:56am Sun 30 Sep 12

BHA Dave wrote:
Heard some negative comments about Dobbie which are crazy. The guy clearly needs matches to get match fit and for him to gel into the team. Gus will kick the rest up the backside and I'm sure it will b 3 more points Tuesday night.
3 more points tuesday night, only if between now and then we learn how to negate the off side trap. The brums made it look simple, all they had to do was step up a yard.
,

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Gee Jay says...
12:12pm Sun 30 Sep 12

We certainly missed CMS and Bruno. No end of balls across the Birmingham box, but no one racing in to get that killer touch.
It was the result that we know will happen once in a while at the Amex. Learn and move on.
The next two games are 'winable',UTA

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westside says...
8:34pm Sun 30 Sep 12

from a neutral point of view brum defended very well but held on due to some close calls from both lino's and the ref. bridge was a class above. btn had many wastefull chances but brum with 5 at the back done very well from my view in east upper. very enjoyable' thx.

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oksouthstander says...
2:25am Mon 1 Oct 12

Relying on JC for radio commentary is so frustrating..No wonder the folks listening to the seagulls player are totally mislead.I saw the highlights..Wish List JC to take some radio commentary lessons a full 35 secs or more today without having a clue where the ball was.He did inform us of the rest of Sussex football,Rugby,hocke
y and probably tiddly winks ...
.He suddenly got excited and I thought we had scored BUT it was Birmingham doh...j.Premeir league is in our hands lets stay that way....

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Hovite says...
11:39am Mon 1 Oct 12

I think JC does a fine job. In truth I just wish I was listening on the radio at home instead of being at the Amex on Saturday.

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Falmer Wizard says...
11:41pm Mon 1 Oct 12

Despite losing the game to a terrific strike I enjoyed the match,we had plenty of possesion but over did the close passing around their box which often led to at least one of our players being offside.We have a squad which should keep us in the top half of the league so there is not the pressure on us loosing the odd game at home.
Completly agree with the comments regarding Bridges and the ref.

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oksouthstander says...
2:42am Tue 2 Oct 12

I think JC does a fine job. In truth I just wish I was listening on the radio at home instead of being at the Amex on Saturday....
Well If I was able to get to the Amex I wouldn't need a radio..BUT Being 12000 miles away I am lucky if I can be there for a game or two in the season,,Having supported them for over 50 years.
Just hoping for an improved and he tells us who has the ball in to-days commentary other wise I'll have to listen to Ipswich commentary..

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