Wigan - Home, Falmer Years:
13/14 - 14/15, 16/17 C'ship, seasons 3-4, 6 . 17/18 - 23/24 Prem, no meetings.
Ground: DW Stad 25k . Nickname: Latics . Shirt: blue.
Championship record from 11/12 to 23/24; (15, 18 Prem), 5, 23, (1 L1), 23 / (1 L1), 18, 23, (20, 1 L1), 24 @ 8/5/23.
recent Prem: relegated - '13 . C'ship: rel - '15, '17, '20, '23 . L1: promo - '16, '18, '22.
Season7 (H) onwards - not Premier League.
Albion v Athletic (H) from 11/12 @ C: -, -, 1-2, 1-0, -, 2-1 . . W = 2 D = 0 L = 1
For Away Falmer Years results and reports scroll further below.
memorable match: Season6 (H) - promo to the Prem. And that pitch invasion.
Season6 (H) Championship 17/4/17 - 2-1 ~ Murray, March.
It was Easter Monday and there were four games to go until end of this extremely exciting campaign. Chris Hughton had done a great job to put Seagulls in with a very big shout for promotion asap. Albion had been going great guns in the Championship and a spin off was that Stockdale & Knockaert had been chosen in the 'best' league line-up. Also Knockaert was the division's player of the season, while Sidwell's punt from halfway at Bristol City got awarded goal of the season. BHA headed the table by 4pts and a win today would gain auto-promo, given Seagulls huge gd compared to Huddersfield in 3rd place (36-5 = 31) would be an additional deciding factor if required to work out mathematics later.
*** match report: Murray & March scored in the first half and after the hour mark to send Seagulls on their way into the Prem. Visitors stopped the possible rot during rest of the second period and alarmingly netted a late consolation. But this almost doubled the amount of noise from three sides of the Amex prior to and at the final whistle. Hughton inserted a fresh pair in midfield to keep the team buzzing to the end. Albion should probably have scored more goals but at the death the job was done and celebrations began on & off the pitch in earnest. It certainly was an occasion that Brighton fans would recall for many a year to come. Those that were on the rollercoaster ride from Goldstone Ground to Falmer, via Gillingham & Withdean, probably hadn't previously experienced anything quite like this euphoria, coupled with a feeling of some satisfaction to know we were finally a Premier League club. We had really lived the dream.
Stats; points 3 (Promoted), h-t 1-0, goals 37,65-85, shape 442, poss ratio 3:2, on/off ratio 4:1, set piece 3:1, fouls 1:1, yellow 1 (Knockaert), subs 3. Att 29,940, away 299
Stockdale, Bruno, Huenemeier, Dunk, Bong, Knockaert, Stephens, Kayal (Norwood), March (Murphy), Hemed (Akpom), Murray. Subs - Maenpaa, Tomori, Rosenior, Skalak.
Champ's P 43 . W28 D8 L7 . F73 A36 GD +37 . Pt 92 Po 1
Season5 (H) - not C'ship.
Season4 (H) 4/11/14 - W 1-0 ~ Gardner.
This was billed as one of the floodlit four - where you could buy tickets for entry to all these evening games at 100 quid. The trouble was the other three fixtures were in 2015 and by then if results at the Amex didn't improve radically, we'd be deep into an expensive relegation battle. Seagulls had merely one victory there this term so far and beforehand, this contest should at least have been labelled, 'must win.' Sami Hyypia was also in a selection fix because FL rules said you could only name 5 on-loan match-day players - and BHA were already up to 5 in the squad. But there were now 2 extra men required to be on the books for 1st 11 choices - because of an ongoing injury crisis, plus expected suspensions from players already on four yellows. The latest loan players to come in were ex-Seagull Elliott Bennett and c-d Greg Halford. On the night 23k gate was recorded but there were vast swayths of empty blue seating for all to see - you couldn't blame the cool & dry weather either.
*** match report: Albion could not have gotten off to a better start, Gardner poking in on the rebound from Baldock's centre in the opening seconds (1min). But that's when status quo returned to the Amex and again fans were starved of extra BHA goals to witness. In fact Athletic got into gear and progressively took control of this tepid evening fixture, seemingly until cows came home. But Seagulls defence did ok, especially debutant keeper Walton, who was named man of the match. He routinely kept northern raiders at bay when they threatened or even breached rearguard action. In the first half, Teixeira hit the bar from a LuaLua cross but after that Albion kinda lacked purposeful goal attempts. During the second period visitors were the better side and BHA ground it out more & more. Hyypia withdrew flair attackers for defenders, although CMS got on for a short spell to run about a bit. Bennett did ok out on the right flank until he ran out of puff near the end. By that time Brighton were hanging on for all three points anyway. Sami said, 'collectively going forward we were not at our best but I'm happy with the determination to defend our goal and keep a clean sheet.' It was the latter reference that Brighton fans could see had given the team a rare victory for once, rather than bagging just one from the few number of scoring chances created.
Walton, Calderon, Greer, Dunk, J Bennett, Teixeira (Ince), Forster-Caskey, Gardner, E Bennett (Halford), Baldock (Mackail-Smith), LuaLua.
Champ's P16 . W3 D7 L6 . F16 A19 . Pt16 Po20 . W = 18.7% L = 37.5%
Season3 (H) 22/2/14 - 1-2 ~ Ulloa.
Albion were on fringes of play-offs and so this return fixture assumed extra importance against the ex-Prem outfit who were also up there challenging immediately outside the top-six. A useful unbeaten run at the Amex gave Oscar Garcia hope for being on the right track at last, although he found this match squeezed between FA Cup tie & replay versus Hull - thus possibly taking his eye off the ball. His squad was on rotation between Cup & League and he fielded the strongest eleven, given some changes in personnel lately. By chance, goalscorers Barnes (transferred) and Crofts (injured) were no longer available and that left Ulloa holding the line on his tod. Somebody else had to net to help the team out in future.
*** match report: Wigan scored twice against run of play to dump BHA into doldrums and out of probable p-o places. Albion dominated possession but once again could not score for toffee - well, until it was too late anyway. We were one down at half time and perhaps unlucky not to net before and after the setback (20min). Early into the second period Athletic converted a corner and hey-ho we had to bag three to win now! Garcia threw in Buckley around the hour mark and later LuaLua to bolster delivery in attack. But he might as well have put eleven men in the box for all the good it did to final result. Ulloa got a chance before the end by being in the right place and he duly did the do (78min). Garcia said, 'there are some players who have the killer instinct and with others it is more difficult. I can take a lot of positives.' Orlandi said, 'it was the best performance I have been involved in this season.' The problem is points are given for wins, rather than pure entertainment. The game is about goals after all. Scoring them and not conceding either - end of!
Kuszczak, Bruno, Greer, Upson, Ward (LuaLua), Stephens, Ince, Orlandi, David (Obika), Ulloa, Rodriguez (Buckley).
Champ's P31 . W12 D10 L9. F33 A27 . Pt46 Po8 . W = 38.7% L = 29.0%
Seasons 1-2 (H) - not C'ship.
* * * * *
Withdean Era: 12 seasons from 1999 to 2011.
Season3 01/2 - League One . Season6 04/5 - Championship.
Withdean era: Albion V Latics 2-1, 2-4 . . . W = 1 D = 0 L = 1
memorable match: Season3 (H) - first home game of a campaign that went from good to excellent.
see: Seasons 3, 6 for club & stadium info. Also Micky Adams & Mark McGhee.
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Wigan - Away, Falmer Years:
13/14 - 14/15, 16/17 C'ship, seasons 3-4, 6 . 17/18 - 23/24 Prem, no meetings.
Season7 (A) onwards - not Premier League.
Athletic v Albion (A) from 11/12 @ C: -, -, 0-1, -, 2-1, 0-1 . . W = 2 D = 0 L = 1
For Home Falmer Years results & reports scroll further up.
memorable match: Season3 (A) - under Oscat Garcia, our first win up at the DW.
Season6 (A) Championship 22/10/16 - w 0-1 ~ Stephens.
Brighton hadn't made this trip last term as Latics were in League One, achieving promotion as champions. This time around Seagulls were a much stronger outfit, Chris Hughton having turned them into promo chasers once more - see seasons 3&4 below. Stockdale, Bruno, Ince, Stephens, Kayal & LuaLua were still on the books from our previous meetings, although the latter two were injured. O'Grady was out on loan at Wigan's runners-up Burton, while Forster-Caskey was on loan to Rotherham. To date Albion's away league form since August was 0-0, 2-2, L 2-0, w 1-0, 0-0, w 2-1, which had gotten them into a top six spot after the first quarter (Q1). And Seagulls needed to kick on now to aim for a target of around 80 points total, in other words a further 55pts or so were required.
*** match report: The first half was dire and Albion were fortunate to go into the break on level terms. Visitors couldn't get going as a cohesive unit because the plucky home eleven disrupted build up. On the hour mark Hughton withdrew Norwood & Knockaert in a double change. The subs changed the game when Stephens caught a bouncing ball and put it into the top corner from 25yards (68min). With ten minutes left Baldock came off for Pocognoli as travellers switched to 451 to see the match out. Hughton said, 'we gave the ball away far too easily. When it's like that you just have to make sure you don't concede.' Nearly 1k Brighton fans saw their heroes grind it out with a 9th clean sheet. But this victory elevated BHA back into the top two for the first time since mid August. And the promo push was on again, big time.
Stats; ht 0-0, goals x-68, poss 52%-48%, on target 1-2, off target 4-4, blocked 6-3, corners 7-8, o/s 1-2, fouls 15-6, yellows 2-1, subs 3-3 . att 10,430.
Stockdale, Bruno, Goldson, Duffy, Bong, Knockaert (Murphy), Norwood (Stephens), Sidwell, Skalak, Baldock (Pocognoli), Murray.
Champ's P14 . W8 D4 L2 . F18 A9 . Pt28 Po2 . W = 57.1% L = 14.2%
Season5 (A) - not C'ship.
Season4 (A) 18/4/15 - L 2-1 ~ Stephens.
Going into this fixture, with very poor results during the run-in to date, Albion were looking for a win against a team apparently destined for League One next season. But Seagulls had not scored a goal on the road for ages and the last one was a penalty - back in early March. Chris Hughton was doing his best with what he had got in the squad but BHA often flattered to deceive when putting moves together. It was if those pairings that were needed in cohesive displays were sorely lacking. Perhaps Bruno & Calderon had some sort of an understanding on right flank - because they were both Spanish! The rest was a hotch-potch of kick & no rush, hit & not run, poke & hope or choke and all in a blue hue & cry. And it was not as if Albion were getting beaten out of sight. These were recent results going back a few weeks - 0-0, L 0-2, L 1-0, L 0-1, W 0-1, 0-0, 1-1, L 2-1, W 2-0. You might see a theme developing in that sequence.
*** match report: Let's take the positive first - Albion scored a goal in open play. But the problem was the match ended with another defeat and dropped BHA closer to the relegation places. Seagulls didn't have as much possession as the home outfit but were ahead on stats with on/off targets, blocks & corners overall. Up front we flattered to deceive once more and Hughton withdrew CMS at halftime. But before half an hour gone and against run of play Athletic opened the scoring with a header, while our rearguard was all over the shop (26min). In the second period Albion upped the ante and Stephens notched from a useful corner by Holla (55min). However despite looking likely to add another, it was locals who subbed attackers and flooded forward. Ten minutes from time they got the winner when Stockdale fumbled a bouncing ball on the line (81min). Hughton threw on two forwards for final moments but the game was already up. He said, 'if you're going through parts of a game when you're not at your best then you have to be resolute. On the second half we should never have lost.' At the end a few Brighton fans showed displeasure by throwing colours to the wind - such was the dispairing mood on away terraces.
Stockdale, Bruno, Greer, Halford, Bennett, Holla (Carayol), Kayal, Stephens, Calderon (Best), LuaLua, Mackail-Smith (O'Grady).
Champ's P44 . W10 D16 L18 . F44 A52 . Pt46 Po20 . W = 22.7% L = 40.9%
Season3 (A) 23/11/13 - W 0-1 ~ Crofts.
Our hosts had spent quite a few seasons in the Premier League but mostly when managing to avoid the drop under Roberto Martinez. We met again back in the second tier and things were slightly different now compared to the Withdean era experience. Oscar Garcia was Head Coach at Albion and attempting to emulate or possibly better efforts of Gus Poyet. But '13/14 was proving something of a different kettle of fish to '12/13, when Seagulls flew in second half of that term and bagged a play-off spot. Injuries, regime change and a more direct style of play were producing cause & effect on field. Overall results were adequate, although nothing to write home about in respect of a promo chase or p-o challenge. On the day, Garcia chose to stick with a fairly regular eleven, coming off the back of two straight wins.
*** match report: Albion won this fixture with a goal scored by Crofts, following the keeper half stopping a JFC effort (72min). The strange thing was Athletic had missed taking the lead a minute beforehand from a 1on1 with TK. Our goalie later got us all three points when saving brilliantly in stoppage time. Seagulls were good value for the win and actually racked up greater possession (56%) and goal tries (on/off/blocked = 14). Oscar Garcia said, 'no other team has won here this season and to be the first to do it means a lot to us.' Brighton fans said, 'and so say all of us.'
Kuszczak, Bruno, Greer, Upson, Ward, Crofts, Ince (Bridcutt), Forster-Caskey, David (El-Abd), Barnes, Conway.
Champ's P16 . W6 D6 L4 . F19 A14 . Pt24 Po9 . W = 37.5% L = 25%
Seasons 1-2 (A) - not C'ship.
* * * * *
Withdean era: season3 01/2 - League One, season6 04/5 - C'ship.
Withdean era: Latics V Albion 3-0, 3-0 . . . W = 0 D = 0 L = 2
memorable match: Season3 (A) - midwinter and a wake up call in a pukka venue.
Noughties last there - 21/8/04 (A) C'ship.
Another thrashing at the JJB Stad in a time when we were struggling during mid decade.
see: Seasons 3, 6 for club & stadium info. Also Dick Knight, Peter Taylor & Mark McGhee.
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