Posted by cj01 on behalf of Owd Jim.
Town’s opponents – Brighton & Hove Albion.
The overall League record is:
| League | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD |
| Home | 21 | 10 | 2 | 9 | 34 | 28 | +6 |
| Away | 22 | 4 | 8 | 10 | 23 | 34 | -11 |
| Total | 43 | 14 | 10 | 19 | 57 | 62 | -5 |
Best and Worst Gates:
| League | Best | Worst | Average |
| Home | 1959-60 = 15,221 | 1992/93 = 3,563 | 8,898
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| Away | 2013/14 = 27,155 | 1993/94 = 4,518 | 10,457 |
| F.A.Cup | | | |
| Home | 1921/22 = 28,066 |
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| Away | 1921/22 = 22,241
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| League Cup | | | |
| Home | 1981/82 = 9,803 |
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| Away | 1981/82 = 14,192
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Town have not played the Seagulls many times; 1 block of 5 seasons, 2 blocks of 4 seasons, 2 blocks of 3 seasons one single season and once each in the FA Cup and the League Cup. Town has won only 1 ‘double’ but the Seagulls have done this on 6 occasions in 1960/61, 1972/73, 1983/84, 1992/93, 2001/02 and 2012/13. Town won in the FA Cup in Round 2 in 1921-22, 2-0 after a 0-0 away draw, when Town won the Cup for the only time. In the League Cup in 1981-82 Town played them in Round 2 and lost on aggregate, winning at Leeds Road 1-0 but losing away 0-2.
Overall Town has a poor record against BHA having come out on the short end 19 times to only 14 wins.
The first league meeting was in 1958-59 when 13.244 saw Town win at Leeds Road 3-2 thanks to McGarry, Burtenshaw(og) and Massie and I was there. The return fixture drew 18,828 and saw the Seagulls gain revenge 2-0. Strangely the scores were reversed next season with Town losing 2-3 away and winning 2-0 at home. Both fixtures drew the best ever league gates between the teams in that second season15,221 at home and 22,704 away.
Town has only scored 3 goals three times, in the first and last home games prior to this season and in the 3-4 away loss in 1985-86. BHA has scored 3 goals twice and 4 goals once.
In the previous meetings between the sides in 2001/2002 the Seagulls won the “double” for the fifth time beating Town 2-1 at the MacAlpine and 1-0 at Withdean. Town finally won both games in 2010/11, 2-1 and 3-2. The home match in 2006/07 Town played rubbish and a Robinson hat-trick condemned the Terriers to a 0-3 loss. To add insult to injury Adams was sent off late in the game. The return match ended 0-0 meaning that Town has yet to score at the Withdean. The game was notable mainly for all the bookings handed out to Town players. They showed no discipline even after seeing that Skarz got booked for being mouthy early on. They could not or would not control their tongues and three more mouthy players were booked with Sinclair later being sent off for a foul. GTF was booked for a heavy tackle.
The away game in 2007/08 produced three firsts. Town scored their first goal in 3 games at Withdean and also earned the first away draw of the season as Robbie Williams scored his first goal for Town direct from a free kick three minutes after Brighton had taken the lead. The home game went in Town’s favour as Holdsworth scored early on only for Brighton to level the scores from a penalty just after half time. Beckett then got the winner from another spot kick about 11 minutes from time.
In 2008/09 Town went down to the Withdean and Collins scored his third goal in three games then thanks to a great penalty save by Glennon Town ended up winners 1-0. Then in the final home game of the season Town led twice through Booth and Collins but the Seagulls pulled both back to end the match at 2-2. This was also Booth’s last home game of his career and he netted his 149th goal.
Early in 2009/10 the Seagulls came to Town and were well and truly mullered. Rhodes missed a penalty but 6 players scored in a 7-1 thrashing. Kay, Peter Clarke and Novak(P) in the first half. The penalty saw Brighton reduced to 10 men. Historically Town has not done well against depleted opposition but not so this time. Roberts and subs Drinkwater and Robinson(2) added 4 more in the second half. The return match was much different and ended up 0-0, both sides missed chances but it counted as 2 points lost for Town as Brighton had a lousy home record of 2-2-9 before kick-off and so Town missed a great chance to record its first “double”.
In 2010/11 Brighton came to Town after the Terriers had had a two week break because of bad weather, while the Seagulls had won a mid week FA Cup Round 2 replay. It was a close game, Brighton being dangerous on the break and Town struggling to find a way through. The Seagulls had a penalty brilliantly saved by Smithies, which led to a great 2-1 win. First, Murray who missed the penalty put the visitors ahead early in the second half but Rhodes equalised 2 minutes later then McCombe yet again scored late on but Town had to survive 5 minutes of added time. Town went to the Withdean for the penultimate game of the season when the Seagulls were already Champions. Afobe scored twice but the Seagulls replied twice. Bennett saved a penalty just after half time but the rebound was headed in by the penalty taker. They replied to Afobe’s second but then very late on Town notched a great winner thanks to loan player Danny Ward. This meant 24 games without defeat (a one season record) and 6 successive away wins (a club record!) but STILL only third place. This was Town’s first double against Brighton their five against Town.
2012/13 saw the sides meet again on 17th November at the renamed John Smith’s Stadium. Town was short several key players, Beckford, Vaughan and Scannell and on the day the Seagulls were the better side scoring twice in the first half and dealing with a Town attack which lacked punch in the second. Church, on his home loan debut, scored a consolation goal late on for a 1-2 loss.
With Town in the thick of a relegation scrap the team made its first visit to the new Amex Stadium 2nd March. In front of the best gate ever (25,831) Town was good for 75 minutes in holding the Seagulls to 1-1, but then the team fell apart and Brighton ran out easy 4-1 winners.
Next season Town went to the Amex on 21st December and put on a great show, mainly defensive and headed by a brilliant Smithies save late on, to earn a point in an open and exciting 0-0 draw. The game attracted yet again, the best gate ever, with a total of 27,155.
The Seagulls have a great chance to be in the play-offs, trailing 6th place by just 1 goal +12 against Reading’s +13. They have a good record in Huddersfield where Town holds a slender 1 game edge in 21 games played. This century the games are even at 3-1-3 15-12. Since the week prior to the FA Cup defeat, let’s face it, Town has been mostly crap with very little effort put out by overpaid layabouts, getting just 3 draws in the last 9 games. I see no reason to think that the bad run will end on Friday. Robins insists on playing Wells as a lone man up front even at home giving us few scoring chances. The passing game is rarely incisive being mostly in our own half. With the exception of the 7-1 win in 2009 the games have been fairly low scoring. With Town’s penchant for giving up daft goals I expect another defeat, this time 1-3. I hope that the players will prove me wrong, but I am not holding my breath.
