3:30pm Monday 8th February 2010
By Andy Naylor
ALBION look like fighting the rest of their relegation battle without their leading marksman.
Nicky Forster’s exclusion from the squad is a clear statement of intent by manager Gus Poyet.
Forster will not be back in favour any time soon unless he eats a fairly large slice of humble pie.
‘Fozzygate’ is the first test of Poyet’s man-management and he has exerted his authority in decisive fashion.
If Forster thought he could take advantage of Poyet’s managerial inexperience and manipulate a stand-off over his contract situation to his advantage then he had better think again.
Taking in isolation the issue of whether or not Forster should be awarded a new deal, it is easy to build a case for both parties.
Albion would be in an even bigger mess without the 15 goals he has contributed in 30 games this season.
Poyet, on the other hand, does not know what division the Seagulls will be in next season, by which time the high-earning Forster will be 37.
The manager has not committed himself either way but Forster has interpreted this as an indication he will not be offered a new contract and evidently regards Poyet’s neutral stance as an affront.
He may be right now, because he has probably burnt his bridges with a clumsy attempt to force Poyet’s and the club’s hand.
The baffling part is why, through Sky Sports News, Forster chose to make the matter public on Friday. The timing, the day before a key game in Albion’s safety quest, infuriated Poyet.
If Forster really wanted to leave then he would surely have brought the issue out into the open during, not after, the January transfer window.
Deep down I am sure he wants to stay, so why the rush? Yes, he has a family to feed and bills to pay and would like to know where his future lies, but he was in a position of strength without risking conflict.
Even if it transpired Poyet no longer wanted him there would be plenty of other takers at the end of the season, bearing in mind his goal record.
What part, if any, Forster’s agent Phil Smith has played in all this is unclear but we have been here before.
Remember Bas Savage, George O'Callaghan and Dean Hammond? Back then, with the team doing rather better than they are now, it was chairman Dick Knight’s call on who should be given new contracts and when.
This time it is quite properly the manager’s and Poyet has to balance the short-term imperative of survival with a mid-term desire to build his own squad, one capable of challenging for promotion next season rather than fighting against relegation.
Stretching the unbeaten run away from home in the league to four games was not enough to prevent a return to the drop zone on goal difference.
Albion would have been in an impregnable position by half-time, two goals up and a man up, but for a terrible miss by referee Steve Cook, worse than any errant striker. He denied them a stonewall penalty.
Liam Dickinson, goal side of Ben Chorley from Elliott Bennett’s chip, was bundled over by the Orient centre- half, who should also have been red carded for denying an obvious scoring opportunity.
Poyet was sent-off by Cook for protesting. He is in good company, although the blundering and book-happy Surrey referee’s dismissal of both Tommy Elphick and Colin Hawkins against Stockport earlier in the season had far more validity.
The failure to claim all three points was not entirely down to the officials. The same linesman inactive in the penalty incident was sharp-eyed enough to spot Glenn Murray marginally offside when he flicked in Dickinson’s inviting cross.
That would have maintained Murray’s habit of not just scoring away from home but scoring more than once in the same game after keeper Jamie Jones’ early scuff from an Adam Chambers backpass gifted him a tap-in.
Murray, Andrew Crofts and the outstanding Tommy Elphick all spurned good opportunities in the first half as Albion were predictably made to pay for their profligacy.
The source was predictable too. Scott McGleish, having bounced a header from a Bennett corner against his own crossbar during the Seagulls’ rampant opening 45 minutes, converted at the far post after Jason Demetriou’s indirect free-kick from ten yards had been blocked by a heavily populated wall.
The free-kick was correctly awarded by Cook when Michel Kuipers slipped receiving an Elphick backpass and spontaneously averted the danger with a clearing hand. At least the referee got that one right.
Shame about his earlier shocker. Dickinson said: “It was a blatant penalty. The ref was right behind it. Maybe a couple of players blurred his vision but the linesman was right in line with it.
“That could have been three points for us. Two nil up against ten men, it would have been tough for them to get back into it.
“At the end of the day we have got to get on with it. He made his decision. We stuck at it well and came away with a point. Unfortunately it should have been three. We need to be more clinical in the box. It's great to be back in the side. It has been a frustrating few weeks for me, with Fozzy and Muzza scoring goals and keeping me out. I think I played well and I think I deserve to play again against Huddersfield but that is the gaffer’s choice.”
Indeed it is and that is the way it has to be, even when the talismanic top scorer wants a contract sorted out.
Albion (4-4-2): Kuipers; Calderon, Virgo, Elphick, Painter; Dicker, Crofts, Navarro, Bennett; Murray (Hart 75), Dickinson. Subs not used: Cox, Tunnicliffe, Carole, Hoyte, Brezovan, Holroyd.
Goal: Murray (10).
Yellow cards: Murray (16) foul, Dicker (55) not retreating, Kuipers (61) dissent, Calderon (90) foul.
Leyton Orient(4-4-2): Jones; Purches, Chorley, Mkandawire, Daniels, Adams, Chambers, Thornton, Demetriou, McGleish (Scowcroft 75), Jarvis (Tehoue 67). Subs not used: Morris, Cave-Brown, Pires, Briggs, Smith.
Goal: McGleish (53).
Yellow cards: Chorley (37) foul, Demetriou (40) foul, McGleish (53) unsporting behaviour, Thornton (60) foul.
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.theargus.co.uk/trade_directory/