Leeds United at Brighton quick recap: Red Card, Penalty Kicks doom Whites at the Amex

Hello! My name is Tommy Leinenweber and I have just joined Through It All Together as a staff writer. This is my first piece for the site and I am extremely happy and excited to be here!

Let’s get to it:

Pre-match Thoughts: Garry Monk puts the same line-up out there as last weekend’s 2-0 victory over Aston Villa. Last week was very well played by Leeds ,and they are going to have to at least replicate that effort, if not improve upon it in order to leave Brighton with points. The Seagulls currently sit in second place in the Championship. A win would push them into the top spot over Newcastle, who would still have a game in hand, playing Birmingham City tomorrow.

Leeds can jump Reading if they come away with a victory. Both clubs come in playing with confidence. Brighton has not lost since September 10th, having won nine and drawing four since they last lost. And Leeds has won five of their last six in league play.

• Really open game so far in the first five minutes. Leeds’ Charlie Taylor puts in a great cross but it is just over Chris Wood’s head.
• Foul just a metre outside of the box on the left side, yellow card for Leeds’ Luke Ayling, first booking of the match. This is a good opportunity for Brighton here. Oliver Norwood puts a very dangerous ball in, just misses the head of Shane Duffy and goes out for a goal kick.
• Another foul by Leeds, this time only a few metres behind the last one. Another great ball in my Norwood. Free-kick nearly exact same thing as the first. Just over the head of a Brighton player and goes past the far post. Brighton starting to take hold of the match.
• Yellow card for Pontus Jansson. Soft. Two of the back four for Leeds now on yellows, only 20 minutes in.
• RED CARD AND PENALTY. Kalvin Phillips is sent off after using his hand to deny a Brighton header from going in the goal off of a corner. Rob Green did not do well and the ball was clearly going in and was handled by Phillips. Penalty to Brighton.
• GOAL BRIGHTON. Glenn Murray finishes off the penalty confidently. He goes right up the middle as Green dives to his left. Brighton up 1-0 and Leeds down to 10 players. “We’re top of the league” chant ringing throughout the stadium from the home fans.
• Goal-scorer Murray is booked and gives away a free-kick in an attacking position for Leeds. Nothing comes of it as the ball is caught by the keeper.
• Brighton very nearly goes up 2-0. Good attacking movement, Murray heads it toward goal but is saved by Green. Norwood was in Green’s way and in an offside position, so offside is given instead of a corner for Brighton.
• Great chance for Chris Wood! Hadi Sacko’s shot turned into a good pass that set up Wood for a good chance, but he misses on a one-timer and the ball goes out for a goal kick. Could have been a goal. If Wood gets a touch on it, it is going in. Best chance for Leeds so far.
• Brighton almost put another one in: Murray’s flick forces a good save from Green. After the corner, the ball goes out for a goal kick and the halftime whistle blows.

Halftime Thoughts: For the opening 15 minutes or so, the match looked pretty even. And then Brighton started taking hold of it. Then came the red card and the goal from the penalty spot. Since then, it is has looked very bleak for Leeds. Brighton could easily be up at least 2-0 at this point.

Leeds has had only one good opportunity since Phillips’ red card and that was shot-turned-pass from Sacko that set up Wood, who could not do anything with it.

It is going to be extremely difficult for Leeds to walk out of the south coast with any points. If they are going to, they need to keep this deficit at one, and hopefully look for a couple of breaks on the counter-attack. If Brighton is able to go two up, their three points should be sealed.

• Matt Grimes comes on for Sakho to start the second half. Grimes started warming up immediately after Phillips’ red card.
• Rather slow start to the half. Neither team producing any chances yet so far. Leeds playing pretty well this half considering they are a man down.
• Brighton have a good play forward, giving Jamie Murphy a shot on goal, which is saved by Green and goes out for a corner. Brighton starting to pick up and creating more chances this half.
• Leeds starting to find themselves a bit in this half. Have seen more of the ball the last couple of minutes, but have not been able to produce anything out of it yet.
• Shane Duffy puts one in the net BUT he is offside and the goal is disallowed. This was at the end of a few good chances for Brighton, with a shot from Anthony Knockaert blocked by Jansson, followed by an inviting corner.
• Monk makes his second sub of the night, taking off Souleymane Doukara and replacing him with Stuart Dallas.
• Knockaert puts an in-swinging free kick into the box, which sets up Duffy for a free header, but he heads it right at Green who catches it. 10 minutes left to play, still 1-0.
• PENALTY. On a free kick, Kyle Bartley grabs a hold of Lewis Dunk (or does he?) and Brighton is awarded another penalty.
• GOAL BRIGHTON. Tomer Hemed converts the penalty. Rob Green dives to the left and Hemed puts in the bottom right corner to give Brighton a 2-0 lead in the 83rd minute. That should wrap it up for Brighton.
• Jansson goes down injured and is subbed off, replaced by Liam Cooper. Jansson walked off on his own power and (hopefully) it’s not too serious.
• Stuart Dallas puts a nice corner in and Wood gets a head on it, but it was not anything threatening and the ball goes wide.
• The final whistle goes, and it finishes 2-0 to the home team.

Final Whistle Thoughts: Unfortunately, this game was marred and decided by one play. Kalvin Phillips’ red card in the 20^th minute from using his arm to deny Brighton a goal was the moment of the match. The subsequent penalty was converted by Glenn Murray. But despite being down a man and a goal, Leeds United played well to stay in the match for the next hour or so. They just could not find anything moving forward. Wood had the only real clear cut chance and wasted it.

The second penalty given to Brighton probably could have been called either way, but Bartley clearly had a hold of Dunk’s jersey and the penalty was given, which was also converted, this time by Tomer Hemed.

It was certainly a disappointing night on the south coast for Leeds, but all-in-all, Garry Monk can take some positives out of the match from seeing his team stay in it with only 10 men on the pitch. Brighton goes to the top of league, and Leeds could drop a few spots from fourth place after this weekend is over.

Next up for Leeds is a home match against third place Reading on Tuesday. Thanks for reading! MOT