Brighton Res 3 - 2 Cardiff City res

City blew a 2 goal lead and left boss Lennie Lawrence far from impressed. City were ahead at half time through goals from Layton Maxwell and Ryan Green but when Brighton upped the tempo in the second half City could not respond and were punished by goals from David Lee, Nathan Jones and Chris McPhee.

Only Willie Boland and Chris Barker received a credit from Lennie who told the Echo

"Only one or two players, Willie Boland and Chris Barker, achieved normal professional standards. Everybody else fell short."

Lawrence went on to say

"This match wasn't lost, it was presented on a plate to Brighton. We played quite well in the first half and had deservedly opened a two-goal lead. But we were guilty of lacking concentration and discipline in the second half. All three goals could have been prevented. At half-time I told the players they were giving me serious food for thought about first team selection. By the end of the match I was left with virtually none."

City were rocked as early as the 1st minute when Scott Young was taken off suffering from a recurrance of the back injury that has seen him miss the opening games of the season. Martyn Giles replaced him.

So after three Avon Combination games City are in 15th place with 3 points.

Echo match report

The table below is reproduced courtesy of 1871

League Table (updated after the games on 28/8/2002)