Preview - Brighton & Hove Albion v Derby County Tuesday, 4th Nov 2008 09:47 Meanwhile, After the Lord Mayor's show - it's back to the Carling Cup. Which could lead to another Lord Mayors show against Leeds! Brighton & Hove Albion v Derby County Carling Cup 3rd Rd 7:45pm, 4th November 2008 Withdean Stadium, Brighton Brighton seem to be finding their feet in League 1. They currently lie 14th in the table and come to this game off the back of a thumping 4-1 victory over third placed Millwall. Manager. Micky Adams can't hide his delight at the revival; "I'm delighted the players are showing what they are capable of." He's looking forward to the game as well; "They're a top 10 side in the Championship and it's a major test for us. We have to be near our best to get anything out of the game." Brighton beat Barnet convincingly in first round and beat Premiership Manchester City on penalties in the last round following a fighting 2-2 result in the game. The only injury concerns for Adams is Adam Virgo who has an eye injury. On loan striker Bradley Johnson will not feature due to being cup-tied. Better news for Adams is the return from injury of Keeper Michel Kuipers who could replace John Sullivan between the sticks. Seagulls Statistics
The Rams "The referee lost control and I think the occasion was too much for him. I don't know when we're going to get a break from referees. We have definitely been robbed. It was a fantastic header. We fought like tigers and got back but it was taken away from us." So said Paul Jewell on BBC Radio Derby and the majority of Derby fans and neutrals agree with him. The problem now is to pick up the team and carry on with that tiger like fighting and not drop back into the kitten like timidness of the first half on Sunday. If we'd played like we played against Norwich the referee's performance would have been a footnote in a comfortable win - instead we're blaming the performance of the referee for our failure. Yes we should have won and I'm as disappointed as the next fan - but we shouldn't have had to be fighting for a last minute winner against Forest. A couple of players seemed to let the occasion get to them and we weren't helped by the early injury to Rob Hulse. Kris Commons did not really perform at his best - as he'd done against Norwich and that left us a man down in midfield. Gary Teale was another who showed flashes in the first half but was largely anonymous - the fans already have little patience with this player. It's up to you to prove us wrong Gary. Tonight could see a very different line-up to the starting eleven from Sunday and there's even talk of Robbie Savage (just back from an unhappy stay on the South Coast) being in the squad. Hulse and Albrechtson aren't fit and given that Dean Leacock has only recently returned from injury, it might be prudent to rest him. Arsenal probably wont let us play Nacer Barazite in case they need him back so some of the more peripheral players may stake a claim. Mick's Team: Carroll, Stewart, Davis, Nyatanga, Connolly, Commons, Kazmierczak , Green, Zadkovich, Ellington, Villa What the Bookies think The Rams are 7/5 favourites while the Seagulls are at 9/5. A draw at full time is at 12/5. You can get 6/1 on Seagulls top scorer Glen Murray to score the first goal while Nathan Ellington is our favourite also at 6/1. I wouldn't fancy us on penalties against this lot so hopefully we can wrap it up in normal play. Information for travelling fans Driving: If you are reading this you probably aren't travelling to the game. It's nearly 200 miles to the Withdean and at least a 3.5 hour drive on a good day involving the M1, the M25 and M23/A23 to Brighton - all perfect places to get stuck in traffic. The stadium itself is 2 miles from the town centre and just off the A23. Parking: The parking restrictions on the streets around the ground have been lifted and it's now easy to park on-street if you arrive early enough. There's a park and ride scheme signposted from the A23 that works very well according to Footballgroundguide.com. Drinking: The Sportsman bar behind the North stand is now open though busy on matchdays. Footballgroundguide.com recommend the Preston Brewery Tap one while south of the stadium. Mick's prediction This will be tough after Sunday and it depends what frame of mind the team is in and how impressive the peripheral players want to be. I think we might not be playing Leeds next week.
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