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Previous encounters (Wolves )
WOLVERHAMPTON - Home, Falmer Years: 18/19 - 22/23 Prem, seasons 8-12 . 12/13, 14/15 - 16/17 C'ship, seasons 2, 4-6. Albion record @ Amex: W = 3 D = 3 L = 2 Manager: Julen Lopetegui (2022) . Experience: former keeper became a coach in Spain at national & top club level. previously Steve Davis (interim), Bruno Lage (21-22) - P42 W = 40.4% @ July '22 . Experience: fairly new to Prem but okish in Portugal. Nuno Espirito Santo (17-21) - W = 51.5% @ Aug '20 . Experience: took Wanderers on a journey to hit heights. Ground: Molineux 32k . Nickname: Wolves . Shirt: old gold. Prem record from 11/12 to 22/23; 20, (23 C'ship), (1 L1), (7, 14, 15 / 1 C), 7, 7, 13, 10, 15 @ 7/2/23. Prem recent Best = 7th, Worst = 20th . Relegated - '12. C21: top ten - '19, '20, '22 . bottom six - '10, '11, relegated - '04, '12. Prem points: 25, - - - - - -, 57, 59 / 45, 51, 20. Recent Managers; Kenny Jackett (13-16), Walter Zenga (2016), Paul Lambert (16-17), Nuno Espirito Santo (17-21). 22/23 odds at start: top half 9-4, bottom half 4-11, rel 5/1, stay up 1-8 . Sack BL 10/1. Expected to finish: in lower mid table. Run in from 8/4/23: Chelsea (H), Brentford (H), Leicester (A), Palace (H), Brighton (A), Villa (H), Man Utd (A), Everton (H), Arsenal (A) Run in forecast @ 1/4/23: ?pt > ?pts . Max was ? . Actual = ? . Po was ?th . Actual po = ?th WOLVES away; Prem. Seasn . W D L . F A GD . . . Pt Po pt/gm %Pt . W% L% 22/23 - 01 3 6 . 06 16 -10 . 06 15 = 0.60 30.0 . 10.0 60.0 - J Lopetegui & B Lage 21/22 - 08 3 8 . 18 18 00 .. 27 10 = 1.42 52.9 . 42.1 42.1 - Bruno Lage 20/21 - 05 5 9 . 15 27 -12 . 20 13 = 1.05 44.4 . 26.3 47.3 - N E Santo. 19/20 - 07 7 5 . 24 21 03 .. 28 07 = 1.47 47.4 . 36.8 26.3 - N E Santo, finish 25/7/20. 18/19 - 06 5 8 . 19 25 -06 . 23 07 = 1.21 40.3 . 31.5 42.1 - Nuno Espirito Santo. 13/14 - 17/18 not Premier League - see below, Seasons 4-6. Albion v Wolves (H) from 17/18: -, 1-0, 2-2, 3-3, 0-1, ? . . W = 1 D = 2 L = 1 . F6 A6 scorers: Murray, Maupay2, Propper, Connolly, Dunk. memorable match: Season10 (H) - six goals as the game swung from home to away and vice versa. For Away Falmer Years results and reports scroll further below. Season12, 6th Premier League (H) Sat 29/4/23 - Bizarrely last term's reversal here in Dec '21 may have highlighted how not to take things for granted at this level. Our previous record against Wolves at the Amex was ok since their initial Prem visit of Oct '18 (see scroll below). In Dec '19 and Jan '21 we drew here to give parity all round across four competitive home campaigns versus Wanderers (seasons 8-11). That first Prem win followed a good run when hosting them earlier in the C'ship, as the Amex was a veritable fortress by comparison to recent PL campaigns (seasons 2, 4-6). BHA were at a Dubai winter training camp during WC finals in December. * match report: tba stats: ht, goals, poss %-%, on, off, corners, fouls, yellows, subs, shape weather . gate . MoM team: . subs: bench: injured: . squad: Prem: P34 . W D L . F A . W D L . F A . Pt? Po? = x.xxpt/gm . W = xx% L = xx% Wolves: Quatr: Pl . W D L . . . F A GD . . Pt Po pt/gm . W% L% 3qtrs: 21 . 05 05 11 . 15 30 -15 . 20 15 = 0.95 . 23.8 52.3 hfwy: 19 . 04 05 10 . 12 27 -15 . 17 16 = 0.89 . 21.0 52.6 - J Lopetegui start: 10 . 02 03 05 . 04 12 -08 . 09 17 = 0.90 . 20.0 50.0 - B Lage EFL Cup: Forest 4pen3 1-1 (A) q-f . Gillingham 2-0 (H) R4 . Leeds 1-0 (H) R3 . Preston 2-1 (H) R2. FA Cup: Liverpool 0-1 (H) 2-2 (A) R3. Oct: 17th in table, 1pts off 18th at Q1. Jan: 16th, 3pts off 13th at halfway stage Q2. Season11, 5th Premier League (H) Wed 15/12/21 - L 0-1. In three of our last four terms in the Prem we'd entertained Wolves and done ok to boot. Goals were scored each time and results could have gone either way. Prior to 1st September Brighton fans anticipated getting in a new striker but the transfer window shut and guess what? It was mid December now and not long before the January transfer window opened once more. We therefore wondered what would happen next, if anything. Leading up to this evening fixture Albion had a rare weekend home postponement due to covid at Spurs. However it allowed a little respite in the punishing pre-festive Prem schedule and opportunity to check on our long list of injuries for signs of recovery. Meanwhile up in the black country, having re-established in the Prem, the old gold outfit was now bossed by Bruno Lage - another Portugese export via vagaries of the EFL. Wanderers admin men didn't exactly open money bags in the August window, merely spending about 25m. Pundits had Wolves as a club in transition and so the jury was out on progress until next year. However they were doing well this term and could be considered worthy opponents, if not downright dog dangerous. Brighton fielded a below strength side this evening due to a covid outbreak at the club among first team squad players - see below. * match report: Albion went down in a single goal game on the night, in front of a frustrated Amex crowd with many empty seats in stands due to that current covid variant scare. Those thousands of fans who did turn up may have left thinking it had also been an exercise in going thru basic motions because following instructions is no guarantee of a safe outcome either way - football or viral related. In stoppage time before the interval Wolves went ahead following a corner (45+1min). Potter shook things up during the second period but despite having chances to equalise Seagulls hardly took off - on a night to forget when flying restrictions were actually eased. Then a stop-start scrappy contest was also halted twice for Ref to fix his mic kit, which amounted to 11mins stoppage time. At the end of it all nothing had changed bar a couple of late subs to shake up midfield. Old problems of scoring at least one if we conceded first, again came home to roost. Albion had now gone 11 matches without a win, an unlikely record that nobody wanted to extend at this juncture. Potter said we had to weather the storm but in some respects it was set up for perfect failure. Our main striker was absent, which immediately put onus on others to find the net. But historically Albion found it hard to recruit goal-scorers and thus find necessary goals contributed from all around the pitch. Every BHA player appears capable of putting the ball into the old onion bag but very few do with any regularity. We won't list names but go to Archive and figure. Somehow a fix had to be found, or hold back future progress. After a fantastic start to our fifth campaign it seemed we were just returning to chasing the season and toiling once more from next January thru into May. Stats: ht 0-1, goals 45+, poss 59%-41%, on target 2-5, off target 10-3, corners 7-4, o/s 1-1, fouls 11-14, yellows 2-0, subs 3-3, shape 433-343 weather: dry & mild . gate: 30,362, away 3041 . MoM: Lamptey - kept trying. team: 1 Sanchez, 2 Lamptey, 34 Veltman, 33 Burn (capt) Y, 3 Cucurella, 20 March, 8 Bissouma Y (14 Lallana 84), 12 Mwepu (30 Richards 84), 15 Moder, 11 Trossard, 7 Connolly (10 Mac Allister 61). bench: 16 Scherpen (gk), 17 Alzate, 28 Roberts, 42 Leonard, 55 Turns, 58 Ferguson. squad: 18 Welbeck . injured: 4 Webster, 5 Dunk, 60 Sarmiento . ban: 24 Duffy . ill: 9 Maupay, 13 Gross. Prem: P16 . W2 D3 L3 . F6 A9 . W2 D5 L1 . F8 A8 . Pt20 Po13 = 1.25pt/gm . W = 25.0% L = 25.0% Quatr: Pl . W D L . . . F A GD . . Pt Po pt/gm . W% L% Total: 38 . 15 06 17 . 38 43 -05. 51 10 = 1.34 . 39.4 44.7 3qtrs: 29 . 14 04 11 . 29 23 06 . 46 07 = 1.58 . 48.2 37.9 Hfwy: 19 . 08 04 07 . 14 14 00 . 28 08 = 1.47 . 42.1 36.8 Start: 10 . 05 01 04 . 11 10 01 . 16 07 = 1.60 . 50.0 40.0 - Bruno Lage. EFL Cup: Spurs 2pen3 2-2 (H) R3, Forest 0-4 (A) R2. FA Cup: Norwich 0-1 (H) R4 . Sheff Utd 3-0 (H) R3. Oct: 7th in table and 4pts off top four at Q1. Jan: 8th, 6pts behind 5th at halfway Q2. Mar: 8th, 5pts off 5th at threequarters Q3. Out of FA Cup to bottom club at Molineux. May: finished 10th on 51pts, 5pts off 7th. Form tailed off to challenge for Europe. Season10, 4th Premier League (H) Sat 2/1/21 - 3-3 ~ Connolly, Maupay, Dunk. Coronavirus restrictions - Tier 3/4 = 0 fans. Attendance originally selected by ballot for 2000 home fans as per Tier 2 rating in Sussex during pre-Xmas December. Match played behind closed doors. We'd gotten to New Year but not yet to the usual halfway stage of this season due to that delayed Prem start back in mid September. The exclusive Prem merrygoround was revolving again and Albion initially intened to turn this season's ride into something like sensations Wolves had enjoyed since returning to the elite. Our history with visitors from the west midlands was diverse this century (see scroll below) but currently, Seagulls needed much more elevated flying to reach dizzy heights of Wanderers rise from lower levels. Object of the Prem exercise, handed by Tony Bloom to Graham Potter, was to get positive results from such meetings, push up the table and eventually establish inside the top ten. However Albion were emmersed in a different kind of ball game in merely fighting to stay in the division by next May. New Year resolutions from Brighton fans included: obtaining a profuse goal scorer or two, keeping clean sheets, beating the drop and returning to the Amex in '21. *** match report: Albion got a point in far from typical circumstances. Hosts led inside quarter of an hour when Connolly slotted home Trossard's assist (13min). Then they sat back and visitors of course got into top gear and quickly equalised while Seagulls flapped (19min). By halftime it was 1-3 following a Burn og (34min) and Wanderers pen (44min). At start of the second period Potter put on two tactical subs - Connolly off injured and Bissouma on a fifth yellow card and therefore suspended anyway. Immediately Maupay was floored in the area, got up and converted the spot kick (46min). Then Dunk later nodded a leveller, so parity was restored and still all to play for (70min). Lallana had come on and also booked Burn went off, resulting in more attacking options as Wolves strengthened rearguard action. At end of the day each outfit obtained a point - probably a fair result as per stats. Potter said his squad showed personality but aside from our dramatic comeback, Brighton fans posted plenty of opinion about what should happen both on & off pitch right from now. The fanbase seemed polarised, or split to measurable degree, between those ok to continue status quo and others wanting radical change. But if such alterations were soon deemed necessary in order to ensure BHA were still in the Prem come May, only Tony Bloom could decide. Stats: ht 1-1, goals 13,46,70-19,34,44, poss 54%-46%, on target 4-4, off target 3-4, blocks 6-3, o/s 1-0, crosses 20-14, corners 5-8, tackles 20-13, fouls 13-8, yellows 2-1, subs 3-2. Weather: cold. Team: 26 Sanchez, 34 Veltman, 4 Webster, 5 Dunk, 33 Burn Y (14 Lallana 69), 20 March, 3 White, 8 Bissouma Y (24 Propper 46), 7 Connolly (29 Zeqiri 46), 9 Maupay, 11 Trossard . Bench: (from 9 subs) 23 Steele, 30 Bernardo, 49 Molumby, 13 Gross, 10 Mac Allister, 16 Jahanbakhsh . Squad: 1 Ryan, 15 Moder . Injured: 2 Lamptey, 14 Lallana, 17 Alzate, 18 Welbeck . MoM: Webster. Prem: P17 . W0 D5 L4 . F10 A15 . W2 D3 L3 . F11 A13 . Pt14 Po17 = 0.82pt/gm. Wins = 11.7%, Loss = 4.1% Quatr: Pl . W D L . . . F A GD . . . Pt Po pt/gm . W% L% Total: 38 . 12 09 17 . 36 52 -16 . 45 13 = 1.18 . 31.5 44.7 3qtrs: 29 . 09 08 12 . 28 38 -10 . 35 13 = 1.20 . 31.0 41.3 Hfwy: 19 . 06 04 09 . 21 29 -08 . 22 14 = 1.15 . 31.5 47.3 Start: 10 . 05 02 03 . 11 11 00 .. 17 07 = 1.70 . 50.0 30.0 - NE Santo. EFL Cup: Stoke 0-1 (H) R2. FA Cup: So'ton 0-2 (H) R5, Chorley 0-1 (A) R4, Palace 1-0 (H) R3. Nov: when the first quarter ended, Wolves were 7th in the Prem table, 4pts off the top two. Jan: at the halfway stage Wanderers slipped to 14th in mid div. Mar: threequarters completed and merely 13th place. May: Prem 13th finish and below par after a tough campaign. Season9, 3rd Premier League (H) Sun 8/12/19 - 2-2 ~ Maupay, Propper. A busy month lay ahead with 3 games during the run up to Xmas then another 2 more before New Year. Five of all six December fixtures were selected for broadcast on pay tv, consequently majority of kickoff times got rescheduled. Wanderers were BHA's eighth home match to date and domestic form so far was: P7 W3 D2 L2 F10 A8 = 1.57pt/gm. But that was merely part of this seasonal story. Spurs were previously entertained back in October but rest of the big six giants wouldn't visit the Amex until immediately after the clock struck 12am on last day of December. Chelsea were first up here in '20 on New Year's Day. The proverbial run-in from mid March next took care of hosting Arsenal, Man Utd, Liverpool & Man City in quick succession up to end of April. All this meant, where were neccessary survival points to come from? For obvious reasons Brighton fans hoped the Amex would redevelop as a Falmer fortress and see us hold out against all manner of marauding Prem invaders to superior effect. One problem ongoing was getting strikers into scoring form to hit the net regularly. BHA record holder Murray was now in his twilight year, so the recognised replacements had to step up pdq. Trouble was, new Prem guys Maupay, Trossard & Connolly were inexperienced in the extreme, each with merely a handful of apps at this critical stage. Izquierdo was still long-term injured, March, Gross & Bissouma weren't always picked or fit to play, while Jahanbakhsh wasn't regular in the match-day squad. Die hards Stevens & Propper 'never' scored anyhow and on loan Mooy also had zero to date. Defenders like Webster, Duffy & Dunk were quite capable at set pieces but again there remained duck eggs for Burn, Montoya, Schelotto, Bong, Bernardo & Alzate. All these facts & figs pointed to Potter asking Tony Bloom to fund fees for a proven goal-scorer in the forthcoming January window. But perhaps that was Brighton fans merely wishful thinking. * * * match report: Maupay & Propper (who knew?) scored from open play during a hectic fifteen minutes prior to the interval (34 & 36 min). Wolves went ahead a little too easily when our defence evaporated (28min). And they netted a second giveaway when Seagulls lost possession and were opened up again with ease (44 min). Potter put on Murray & Jahanbakhsh with twenty minutes left but Albion were clueless how to open up Wanderers massed ranks once more. It all hung in balance, even VAR kept it on a knife edge when dismissing a WW pen appeal. Stephens got booked late on for a 5th card and subsequent suspension. Brighton fans felt it was unlucky not to win for all our possession but also lucky not to lose given visitors threats & chances. Potter was resigned to take a point knowing we'd again met tougher opponents here today than those clubs positioned below mid table. So thinking was we were getting better but not as yet the real deal by a long way. But another pukka striker would still be nice in the January window. Stats; shape 4321-541, h-t 2-2, goals 34,36-28,44, poss 61%-39%, on target 4-5, off target 9-8, corners 3-4, o/s 1-3, fouls 10-7, yellows 3-0, subs 2-3 . MoM - Mooy . Gate 30,189, away 3038 . Weather - cold & breezy. 1 Ryan, 46 Alzate, 15 Webster Y, 5 Dunk Y, 33 Burn, 13 Gross (16 Jahanbakhsh 68), 6 Stephens Y, 24 Propper, 18 Mooy, 11 Trossard (17 Murray 68), 7 Maupay . Subs - 27 Button, 22 Montoya, 30 Bernardo, 4 Duffy, 8 Bissouma. Squad - 3 Bong, 14 Balogun, 21 Schelotto . Injured - 19 Izquierdo, 20 March, 44 Connolly. Prem P16 . W3 D3 L2 . F12 A10 . W2 D1 L5 . F8 A14 . Pt19 Po12 = 1.18pt/gm. Wins = 31.2%, Loss = 43.7% Quart: Pl . W D L . . . F A GD . . . Pt Po pt/gm . W% L% Total: 38 . 15 14 09 . 51 40 11 . 59 07 = 1.55 . 39.4 23.6 - NE Santo, finish 27/7/20 3qtrs: 29 . 10 13 06 . 41 34 07 . 42 07 = 1.44 . 34.4 20.6 PREM SUSPENDED Hfwy: 19 . 07 09 03 . 29 24 05 . 30 07 = 1.57 . 36.8 15.7 Start: 10 . 02 06 02 . 13 13 00 . 12 11 = 1.20 . 20.0 20.0 - N E Santo. Europa League: q-f - Seville L 1-0. Last 16 - Olympiakos 1-1 (A) 1-0 (H). 32 - Espanyol 3-2 (A) 4-0 (H). group - Besiktas 0-1 (A) 4-0 (H), Braga 3-3 (A), 0-1 (H), Bratislava 1-2 (A) 1-0 (H), p-o - Torino 2-1 (H) 2-3 (A), qual 3 - Pyunik 4-0 (H) 0-4 (A), qual 2 - Crusaders 2-0 (H), 1-4 (A) EFL Cup: 4th rnd - Villa 2-1 (A), 3rd rnd - Reading 4pen2 1-1 (H) FA Cup: Man Utd 1-0 (A) 0-0 (H) R3. Aug: curse of previous Europa League qualification impacted opening Prem results. Oct: still a full schedule and in crowded mid table mix by end of first quarter Q1. New Year: outside top six, qual for last 32 of Eu Lg and in FAC4 draw via replay. March: in 6th when PL suspended. Last 16 Eu Lg. July: consistent form to chase top five. Edged out of Europa '21 qualifying. Season8 2nd Premier League (H) Sat 27/10/18 - 1-0 ~ Murray. Two years and a week previously Albion entertained the historical ex-Prem outfit during Championship days (scroll to Season6 below). Now it was billed a PL contest but just as significant ongoing to both teams. Today marked the first quarter stats on final whistle and thus set targets for immediate future this term. The Amex was a difficult place to gain three points for travellers, outside of the top six giant elite clubs. Only top-ten finishers Leicester had managed that last season but wiley Chris Hughton realised the threat carried now by progressive big-spending Black Country Wanderers. Albion needed the community stadium to be a fortress once more in the quest to consolidate in mid table if at all possible. * * * match report: In the event, on a very cold afternoon, Murray scored his 100th goal for BHA to become the club's post war record holder. It was just enough to register victory in a contest Seagulls could so easily have lost. Glenn had wanted to start following being knocked out the previous Saturday up at Newcastle. Hughton duly went with that starting eleven but the first half home performance was dire. Soon after the interval our hitman notched his century when unmarked, clipping in a Bruno miscue across the area (48min). Kayal, Dunk & eventually Knockaert were booked while hosts kept unlucky visitors at bay. Bissouma came on in later stages to bolster two lines of defenders as Wolves pressed for an equaliser. Knockaert got on late to join in with with backs to the wall mentality. Hughton said, 'to win three in a row for a club like us is very difficult. We are more pleased with that than the performance. A club in its second season is always looking down, so to be nine points clear of the bottom three at this stage is good.' Most Brighton fans would agree, although realised without Murray still here we would definately be in trouble down there right now. Stats; shape 4411-343, h-t 0-0, goal 48, poss 40%-60%, on target 1-7, off target 5-8, blocks 1-10, crosses 9-36, corners 1-10, o/s 0-1, tackles 21-12, fouls 11-8, yellows 3-0, subs 2-3 . MoM Murray . Gate 30,654 ground record, away 2992 . Weather - cold, sunny intervals. 1 Ryan, 2 Bruno, 4 Duffy, 5 Dunk Y77, 3 Bong, 16 Jahanbakhsh, 6 Stephens, 7 Kayal Y52, 19 Izquierdo (11 Knockaert 81 Y90), 20 March (8 Bissouma 71), 17 Murray . Subs - 23 Steele, 30 Bernardo, 14 Balogun, 9 Locadia, 10 Andone. Prem P10 . W3 D1 L1 . F8 A6 . W1 D1 L3 . F3 A7 . Pt14 Po11 = 1.40pt/gm. Wins = 40%, Loss = 40% Quatr: Pl . W D L . . . F A GD . . . Pt Po pt/gm . W% L% Total; 38 . 16 09 13 . 47 46 01 .. 57 07 = 1.50 . 42.1 34.2 - Nuno Espirito Santo. 3qtrs; 29 . 12 07 10 . 37 35 02 .. 43 07 = 1.48 . 41.3 34.4 Hfwy; 19 . 07 05 07 . 20 22 -02 . 26 11 = 1.36 . 36.8 36.8 Start; 10 . 04 03 03 . 09 09 00 .. 15 10 = 1.50 . 40.0 20.0 - Santo. EFL Cup; 3rd rnd - Leicester 1-3 pens 0-0 (H), 2nd rnd north - Sheff Wed 0-2 (A) FA Cup; s-f - Watford 3-2 aet, q-f - Man Utd 2-1 (H), 5th rnd - Bristol C 0-1 (A), 4th rnd - Shrews 2-2 (A) 3-2 (H), 3rd rnd - Liverpool 2-1 (H) Aug; know any top agents? Wanderers got a theme working and are hopeful of making it continue at highest level. Plus a 'little percentage' to do the deal. October; excellent start to make the top ten in first year back for a while. Out of EFL Cup on pens. New Year; top ten and cutting the mustard without killing the old gold goose. FA Cup progress. March; in a scrap for seventh place. FA Cup semis. Season7 (1st) - not Premier League. WOLVES PREVIOUS PREM; Seasn . W D L . . . F A GD . . Pt Po pt/gm . . W% L% 22/23 - 21/22 - 15 06 17 . 38 43 -05 . 51 10 = 1.34 . 39.4 44.7 - Bruno Lage @ 22/5/22 Made the top ten but tailed off after appearing to challenge earlier for a place in Europe. 20/21 - 12 09 17 . 36 52 -16 . 45 13 = 1.18 . 31.5 44.7 - NE Santo @ 24/5/21 Endured a tough season stuck in mid table, progress hindered by squad injuries. Manager left by mutual consent. 19/20 - 15 14 09 . 51 40 11 .. 59 07 = 1.55 . 39.4 23.6 - NE Santo. PL SUSPENDED, complete @ 27/7/20 Another excellent campaign stewarded by NES. Equalled last term's placing but missed top six on GD. 18/19 - 16 09 13 . 47 46 01 .. 57 07 = 1.50 . 42.1 34.2 - Nuno Espirito Santo. Was a Prem team in waiting last term but more than hit the ground running for this elite campaign. Got a Europa League qualifing spot too for next season. 12/13 - 17/18 not Premier League - see below, Seasons 2 & 4-6. 11/12 - 05 10 23 . 40 82 -42 . 25 20 = 0.65 . 13.1 60.5 Knockouts from 11/12; FA Cup - 3rd rnd, 3rd, 1st, 3rd, 3rd, 5th, 3rd, s-f, 3rd, 5th, 4th, 3rd. EFL Cup - 4th rnd, 3rd, 1st, 1st, 3rd, 3rd, 4th, 3rd, 4th, 2nd, 3rd, q-f. Europa League: nq - - - - - - nq, q-f, nq, nq, nq. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Wolves home, Falmer years - C'ship 12/13, 14/15 - 16/17 . Seasons 2, 4-6. Albion v Wanderers (H) from 11/12: -, 2-0, -, 1-1, 0-1, 1-0 . W = 2 D = 1 L = 1 memorable match: Season2 (H) - a time of contrasting fortunes with the old gold outfit. Season6 Championshp (H) 18/10/16 - 1-0 ~ Baldock. Brighton fans had witnessed a reversal of fortune in this fixture at very beginning of 2016, during an awful Xmas & New Year blip in the middle of last term's exciting campaign. Once again Albion were forecast for play-offs, having started this season well, being on target for enough points to make knockout phases. Chris Hughton now had a stronger squad on paper, signing Duffy, Norwood, Sidwell, Murray (loan) & Pocognoli (loan). And even allowing for injuries & suspensions, he had good quality cover in defence & across midfield. Maybe Seagulls were a little light up front but with the right service, both strikers (as 442 preferred at home) were more than capable of hitting back of the net. The question was, could they do it regularly? On the night 25k turned up, amid more rail chaos, to see if they could. * match report: Seagulls won the match by a single goal and remained on heels of the top two. But victory came from the one they put away, while visitors missed their chances in an even contest. The winner came early when Skalak and Bong combined and Baldock headed in the cross off the bar (14min). And it wasn't all one way traffic thereafter as the away outfit had to come forward - especially in closing stages. Brighton defended well to earn another clean sheet, although Dunk received a 5th booking and ban next time out. Late in the evening Hughton withdrew Bruno injured and then Baldock as he went more defensive. In stoppage Pocognoli made up numbers as Wolves carried a threat with numerous corners. So Albion hung on to that slender lead and Hughton said, 'Sam is a team player, works hard and is at the right place at the right time.' Brighton fans were grateful he was and also happy to take three points, despite seeing lack of real chances created to abate that nervous ending. Stats; ht 1-0, goals 14-x, poss 48%-52%, on target 3-4, off target 6-7, corners 9-10, o/s 0-1, fouls 14-11, yellows 2-3, subs 3-3 . att 25,231 Stockdale, Bruno (Goldson), Duffy, Dunk, Bong, Knockaert (Pocognoli), Norwood, Sidwell, Skalak, Baldock (Stephens), Murray. Champ's P13 . W7 D4 L2 . F17 A9 . Pt25 Po3 . W = 53.8% L = 15.3% Season5 (H) 1/1/16 - L 0-1. New Year arrived and so we all turned up for community stadium entertainment on a Friday afternoon instead of at the weekend. Second half of the season was underway and if anything like the first was sure to be exciting. However, no matter what Albion had achieved in first half of this campaign, they were without a win in five fixtures and had just suffered two straight losses at the Amex. Those fine lines of Championship form had fortunately gone Seagulls way since August but lately last year's problem of not scoring goals came back with a vengeance. Every team was going to have a bad patch but if Albion's dreams of promotion were to stay on track, clean sheets and consistent strikers were essential. Somehow Chris Hughton had to rejuvenate a squad hit by injuries and maybe get others in, to increase quality all round, now the transfer window was open. On the day about 27k attended and the match was on tv too. * match report: Albion crashed to a third successive defeat at the Amex, to bring them down to earth at very start of 2016. To compound present troubles they failed to keep a clean sheet or even score again when beat at home. Seagulls fell behind when new cent-def Goldson put a low cross past Stockwell at his near post (32min). This single goal then secured all points for visitors but BHA battered them throughout and could be considered a tad unlucky not to rescue a point at least. Hughton threw on Manu around the hour mark and later switched to 442 with introduction of Hemed up front. But all the huffing & puffing in the world could not alter the score after ninety or so minutes. Hughton said of our poor form, 'the run is obviously a concern and a frustration, we have to find ways of winning matches and scoring goals.' It was kinda stating the bleeding obvious and what Brighton fans wanted to know was, what was he going to do about it?' Stats; poss 64%-36%, on target 6-4, off target 11-1, corners 10-4, o/s 1-1, fouls 9-9, yellows 1-1. Stockdale, Bruno, Goldson, Dunk, Calderon, Stephens, Crofts (Hemed), Kayal, Wilson, Zamora (Manu), Murphy Champ's P25 . W11 D11 L3 . F31 A25 . Pt44 Po4 . W = 44% L = 12% Season4 (H) 14/3/15 - 1-1 ~ Bruno. There was a mighty battle for auto promo, let alone p-o places, at top of this division but Albion were far from actually being involved - unlike Wanderers. As a disappointing campaign extended into the run-in, Seagulls were stuck in lower third of the table and hoping at least to win a few fixtures at the Amex until the early May climax. In fact four of the last five home matches were against top-eight clubs and would be a useful test of how far the current squad had come under Chris Hughton. He had indeed managed to reverse poor domestic form under 2014 failure Sami Hyypia and fans were latterly beginning to enjoy games at the community stadium once more. The 50pt target for safety was 10pt away before k-o but Brighton fans were not too worried about threat of relegation at this stage. On the day 27k was the official attendance with over 2k travelled from Wolverhampton. * match report: On stats alone it was pretty even and both goals were scored late in the day. Each side huffed & puffed and if Albion had taken a couple of first-half chances, might have got all the points. But with recognised BHA strikers out of form, perhaps Brighton fans expected too much. There was plenty of pressure on visitors third and Seagulls defended fairly well but couldn't get a breakthrough until flooding forward on a counter attack. Bruno ended the move with a low drive after a Wolves clearance rebounded (70min). Within five minutes opposition restored parity when Stockdale palmed a cross into the net (74min). Despite this setback the ex-Fulham keeper made three crucial saves to prevent visitors nicking a win. Hughton elected to leave changes late and injected O'Grady & LuaLua into the fray immediately after conceding. New boy Ledesma got a few seconds at the end. Hughton said, 'all we can do is keep working. CMS gives us great running ability and a good outlet. First and foremost you want a striker to be a team player - you can't fault his efforts.' Supporters went home thinking that when our finishing was finally up to speed, somebody was gonna get a right beating at the Amex. Stockdale, Bruno, Greer, Dunk, Bennett, Holla (LuaLua), Teixeira (Ledesma), Kayal, Calderon, Mackail-Smith (O'Grady), Stephens. Champ's P37 . W9 D14 L14 . F42 A46 . Pt41 Po19 . W = 24.3% L = 37.8% Season3 - not C'ship. Season2 (H) 4/5/13 - 2-0 ~ LuaLua 2. Brighton had qualified for play-offs in our previous match at Leeds but Wolves were second from bottom and in deep trouble. Albion had not lost at the Amex since very end of 2012, while poor away form nudged Wanderers nearer to relegation. Gus Poyet said, 'the Championship is becoming more and more difficult so we are delighted to be in the play-offs.' Meanwhile WW supporters had been in this position before but in elite days of the Prem! The old gold and black club appeared to have a losing mentality, so would have to rely on results elsewhere to get a similar miracle as per B&W devoted at Falmer. There was 30k (ground record) crammed into the Amex because Wolves had a full contingent of fans to witness their demise. * match report: The end came quick, if painful and by 5pm they were in League One for '13/14. Meanwhile Albion would face Palace in play-offs for half a chance at the Prem. After five minutes LuaLua shot Seagulls ahead and we never looked back. Not long before the interval he did it again with skill (39min). Wanderers were down and out and produced a performance to confirm their rapid decline. Brighton fans were there to celebrate a super season and so didn't rub visitors nose in on a very happy afternoon for home support. Gus Poyet wanted to manage in the elite and said, 'we are in a great moment as a team and as a club.' And so say all of us. Kuszczak, David, Greer, Upson, Painter (Hammond), Crofts, Bridcutt, Vicente (Barker), Barnes, Ulloa, LuaLua (El-Abd). Champ's P46 . W19 D18 L9 . F69 A43 . Pt75 Po4 . W = 41.3% L = 19.5% Season1 - not C'ship. * * * * * Withdean Era: 12 seasons from 1999 to 2011. Seasons 4 02/3, 6 04/5, 7 05/6 - Championship. Withdean era: Albion v Wolves 4-1, 0-1, 1-1 . . . W = 1 D = 1 L = 1 memorable match: Season4 (H) - an outstanding result in a season of change & struggle on & off the pitch. see: Seasons 4, 6, 7 for club & stadium info. Also Dick Knight & Mark McGhee.
Wolves - Away, Falmer Years: 18/19 - 22/23 Prem, seasons 8-12 . 12/13, 14/15 - 16/17 C'ship, seasons 2, 4 - 6. Albion record @ Wanderers: W = 3 D = 5 L = 1 WOLVES home; Molineux. Seasn . W D L . F A GD . Pt Po pt/gm %Pt . . W% L% 22/23 - 04 2 5 . 09 14 -5 .. 14 15 = 1.27 70.0 . 36.3 45.4 - Julen Lopetegui & Bruno Lage 21/22 - 07 3 9 . 20 25 -5 . 24 10 = 1.26 47.0 . 36.8 47.3 - Bruno Lage. 20/21 - 07 4 8 . 21 23 -2 . 25 13 = 1.31 55.5 . 36.8 42.1 - N E Santo. 19/20 - 08 7 4 . 27 19 8 .. 31 07 = 1.63 52.5 . 42.1 21.0 - N E Santo, finish 27/7/20. 18/19 - 10 4 5 . 28 21 7 .. 34 07 = 1.78 59.6 . 52.6 26.3 - Nuno Espirito Santo. 13/14 - 17/18 not Premier League - see below, Seasons 4-6. Wolves v Albion (A) from 17/18: -, 0-0, 0-0, 2-1, 0-3, 2-3 . . W = 2 D = 2 L = 1 . F7 A4 scorers: Dunk, Mac Allister, Trossard, Bissouma, Lallana, Mitoma, Gross. memorable match: Season11 (A) - as good as it gets for displays on the road. For Home Falmer Years results & reports scroll further up. Season12, 6th Premier League (A) Sat 5/11/22 - W 2-3 ~ Lallana, Mitoma, Gross Molineux was an extra nice place to visit last term and overall Seagulls had done ok there as a Prem side (see away scroll below). It began in Apr '19 and then Mar '20 with two consecutive goalless draws. We lost there in May '21 but won in Apr '22 (seasons 8-11). So the trend over those four springtime matches tended towards parity. We wondered how November would now go. In fact our C'ship record there was pretty good too and for some exclusive footy reason certain venues appeared lucky for visitors - Moly was one such ground (see C'ship away scroll below). Albion head coach now was Roberto de Zerbi since Sept - just prior to the Prem pause for Nations League group matches. His record to date was: W1 D2 L3 for the month of October. Wolves spent 35m by start of the season, adding a few more men from abroad during the open August window. Before end of the first quarter (mid Oct) they'd sacked their manager and an interim coach remained at the helm until their wanted man was finally on board during the Prem pause for WC finals. Meanwhile words among Wanderers support became progressively negative. And with good reason; they'd been there before, a decade ago during 2012 (see seasons 1/2 below). So the circle of elite inclusion turns, club cycles wax & wane, league levels rise & fall, footy deja vu interjects into reality. * match report: there were footy fireworks on the pitch for this bonfire night meeting prior to darkness. Albion were set alight from kickoff and Lallana rocketed the ball into the net from a Trossard pass (10mins). Hosts hit back quickly with their own fire-power to equalise (12mins). Next Dunk was penalised for handball and Ref looked at the monitor. Sanchez went the wrong way at the spot kick (35mins) so Wolves now led. Just before halftime Mitoma headed home from a Lallana cross (44mins) to level things once more. In time added on Mitoma got dragged off his feet and hosts were reduced to 10 men for the second half. Chances came & went for both sides and it appeared honours might end even. But following a fluid move down the left and pass across the area Gross was on hand to smash in the winner (83mins). De Zerbi made late changes to keep the attacks going and these paid off. In stoppage he shored up defence while Wolves were rampaging for a late equaliser. Brighton saw it out and took all three points back to Sussex. Travelling support was happy, so was Roberto and everybody had a nice afternoon in the west midlands bar those who lived there. Blue & white proved to be victorious away colours, making it two wins in a row after beating Chelsea at the Amex. The feelgood factor continued and Brighton fans felt the club was back on track following recent regime change. Hopefully onwards & upwards. stats: ht 2-2, goals 12,35-10,44,83, poss 29%-71%, on 5-8, off 1-7, blocks 2-4, corners 4-9, o/s 1-1 tackles 18-15, fouls 15-11, yellows 2-0, red 1-0, subs 4-4, shape 433-4231 weather: dry/wet . gate: 30,732 away 3007 . MoM: Lallana - great game. team: 1 Sanchez 13 Gross 4 Webster 5 Dunk 30 Estupinan 10 Mac Allister 25 Caicedo 7 March 14 Lallana 22 Mitoma 11 Trossard. subs: 18 Welbeck 65 14, 27 Gilmour 82 30, 21 Undav 82 11, 34 Veltman 90 22 bench: 23 Steele (gk) 2 Lamptey 6 Colwill 19 Sarmiento 20 Enciso injured: 0 . rehab: 15 Moder . squad: 28 Ferguson Prem: P13 . W3 D2 L1 . F10 A4 . W3 D1 L3 . F12 A13 . Pt21 Po6 = 1.61pt/gm . W = 46.1% L = 30.7% Season11, 5th Premier League (A) Sat 30/4/22 - W 0-3 ~ Mac Allister, Trossard, Bissouma. This was our penultimate trip on that long road to 19 Prem venues once more. Molineux was a place we liked to visit, even though Prem results hadn't exactly been all that positive over our three meetings there. A whole year ago was a case in point - see scroll below, Season10 during lockdown. With this season drawing to a close Albion had another shot at registering a first elite win at WW against old gold. And truth be told, Seagulls current away form was sufficient to get us into a mid-table berth and keep out of the bottom six for the first time in five campaigns. Away stats from '17 thru '21 were: W 2 3 4 5 . D 5 4 7 5 . L 12 12 8 9 . W14 = 18.4% . D21 = 27.6% . L41 = 53.9% . Graham Potter had stated intentions to go for a top ten spot, so that meant picking up points from our last four fixtures - starting today. Wolverhampton meanwhile were chasing a place in Europe next term and keen to re-establish as a pukka Prem outfit as in days of yore. * match report: Albion gained three points to set a Prem record of 44pts thus far. In the first half Ref/VAR gave visitors 2 pens. Mac Allister hit a post with the first but converted the second (42min). Hosts put on 2 subs after turnaround but it was Seagulls who flew forward and achieved a super second half display. Trossard bagged the second goal when dribbling in the area (70min). And Bissouma sealed a terrific victory when scoring from outside the box (86min). Potter was very proud of the players and wanted stay in the top ten with 3 games to go. Brighton fans remembering scenes of 25 years ago when staying in the Football League, were happy too. All in all it was another tremendous away day for blue & white. Stats: ht 0-1, goals 42,70,86, poss 49%-51%, on target 1-9, off target 5-4, blocks 5-4, corners 7-3, crosses 20-12, o/s 1-1, tackles 19-22, fouls 6-4, yellows 2-1, subs 3-3, shape 352-3511. weather: nice . gate: 31,243, away 1795 . MoM: Trossard - class finish. team: 1 Sanchez, 34 Veltman, 5 Dunk, 3 Cucurella Y, 20 March (2 Lamptey 87), 12 Mwepu (4 Webster 62), 8 Bissouma, 25 Caicedo, 11 Trossard (13 Gross 89), 10 Mac Allister, 18 Welbeck . bench: 23 Steele (gk), 24 Duffy, 14 Lallana, 17 Alzate, 9 Maupay, 58 Ferguson. squad: 42 Leonard, 57 Offiah . injured: 15 Moder, 60 Sarmiento. Prem: P35 . W3 D7 L7 . F12 A22 . W7 D7 L4 . F22 A20 . Pt44 Po9 = 1.25pt/gm . W = 28.5% L = 31.4% Season10, 4th Premier League (A) Sun 9/5/21 - L 2-1 ~ Dunk. Covid restrictions: no fans (post-lockdown, Tier 3/4/5). We'd gotten to a Sunday lunchtime during early May but not yet to the last fixture of this season due to that delayed Prem start back in mid September. Wolves had an ultra long season last year beginning with Europa League matches back in July '19, until eventually ending that extended competition in August '20. Their record on returning to the Prem was also something Albion would love to emulate but reality says we have got to grow from the bottom up. Three previous consecutive lower order finishes were pretty basic to say very least, so Seagulls were tasked with vastly improving on those places this term. However it proved to be something of a false dawn from the get go and yet another season of struggle in the bottom six. BHA had always managed to hover above the drop zone throughout and were all but mathematically proven safe, so it was now an exercise in how many points we'd actually register as a half-decent fourth Prem tally. *** match report: Albion crashed to defeat in the last minute of normal time. And prior to conceding two late goals (76 & 90 mins), Dunk had been sent off (53min) and Maupay also got a red card after play finished - for lipping Ref. Seagulls bossed the first half and led from a Dunk header (13min). But it was then our same old story as in many other Prem matches, where BHA just cannot score a second goal. And blue & white were made to pay dearly following Dunk's dismissal for a last man standing offence. Wolves upped the ante and took full home advantage to boot. Potter put on 2 defensive subs at the hour mark to have & hold but it all went tits up in the last quarter of an hour. Brighton fans watching on BBC1 were left frustrated before Sunday lunch got digested and it kinda spoilt the whole weekend footy funtime to boot. It looked even worse on late night motd low-lights (yes, very last game shown at nearer midnight) as masocistic fans replayed agonies of that self inflicted trauma. But it was all over bar repercussions now and these meant our captain & main striker would be missing off the teamsheet. It was another mad, bad, sad for dad Brighton tale that fans go thru following this crazy club for better or worse. Stats: ht 0-1, goals 76,90-13, poss 60%-40%, on target 6-3, off target 3-1, corners 10-5, o/s 0-2, fouls 12-7, yellows 2-2, reds 0-2, subs 3-3, shape 4312-442 . Weather: dry & sunny Team: 26 Sanchez Y, 3 White, 4 Webster, 5 Dunk R, 33 Burn, 16 Jahanbakhsh (10 Mac Allister 58), 13 Gross, 8 Bissouma Y, 11 Trossard (15 Moder 58), 9 Maupay R, 18 Welbeck (29 Zeqiri 78) . Bench: 23 Steele, 7 Connolly, 17 Alzate, 19 Izquierdo, 22 Tau, 24 Propper. Squad: 6 Karbownik . Injured: 2 Lamptey, 14 Lallana, 20 March, 34 Veltman . MoM: Sanchez. Prem: P35 . W3 D8 L6 .F18 A19 . W5 D5 L8 . F18 A22 . Pt37 Po15 = 1.05pt/gm. Wins = 22.8%, Loss = 40.0% Season9, 3rd Premier League (A) Sat 7/3/20 - 0-0. We'd reached completion of the three-quarters stage (Q3) of Albion's 3rd Prem season with a visit to Molineux. Brighton fans had been there on numerous occasions during these Falmer Years, especially through recent Championship campaigns but also for those three times when BHA played them in level2 out of Withdean. Fortunes of both clubs had risen since the noughties, perhaps more so for Wolves, who had enjoyed PL success plus European knockout phase football as well this term. Conversely Seagulls were in a bit of a flap at the moment, having failed to win since start of 2020 and struggling for points just above the drop zone. Away form was nothing to write home about and a point here would be regarded as an achievement like last term - see season8 below. In fact the situation today was very similar to previously, except Graham Potter was the man now tasked with managing the squad towards survival. All that pre-season big talk of being a future top ten Prem side had evaporated like puddles on a summer day since rain had well & truly set in this wet winter, both factually & metaphorically. Albion's history was full of trouble & strife anyway, so Brighton fans wanted to see the club fully justify all that effort they'd expounded just to get here from homeless days of yore at very end of the last century. Without assistance from that dedicated fanbase BHA might have remained a lower league outfit, merely dreaming of achieving elite status. Supporters needed to see the team prove capable of staying in the division or otherwise another big change in personnel was on the cards at end of this season. * * * match report: For the second year running this match ended goalless. Both sides huffed & puffed but couldn't break down resolute defences. Albion were good value for the rare clean sheet but failed to score once more from few chances created. Potter said of the point Seagulls retained, 'of course we hope it will be valuable at end of the season.' He introduced Alexis Mac Allister as a sub on debut, who proved capable in the minimum time allowed to show South American skills. Otherwise Dunk & Bissouma took plaudits in a fighting display to hold Wolves at bay. BHA had enough possession to thwart hosts attacking spells, although neither side was on song in final thirds. Potter had replicated Chris Hughton's defensive mantra, which at end of last term had just been good enough to ensure survival. Brighton fans trusted that regime would endure once more during the forthcoming run in. stats: shape 343-433, ht 0-0, goals nil, poss 43%-57%, on target 1-1, off target 7-4, blocks 3-2, o/s 0-0, crosses 13-18, corners 2-0, tackles 22-21, fouls 4-7, yellows 1-3, subs 2-3 . MoM - Bisouma . Gate - 31,490 . Weather - cloudy & windy. 1 Ryan, 22 Montoya Y, 15 Webster, 5 Dunk Y, 33 Burn Y, 8 Bissouma, 18 Mooy (6 Stephens 89), 24 Propper, 20 March (10 Mac Allister 80), 7 Maupay, 11 Trossard (16 Jahanbakhh 82) . Subs - 27 Button, 4 Duffy, 13 Gross,17 Murray. Squad - 2 Lamptey, 21 Schelotto, 25 Kayal, 30 Bernardo, 44 Connolly, 46 Alzate . Injured - 19 Izquierdo. Prem: P29 . W4 D6 L4 . F17 A15 . W2 D5 L8 . F15 A25 . Pt29 Po15 = 1.00pt/gm. Wins = 20.6%, Loss = 41.3% Season8 2nd Premier League (A) Sat 20/4/19 - 0-0. There were five fixtures left, 3 away & 2 at home. At this stage Albion were 17th and in a dogfight to stay alive in the div for next term. A bad run of form, five straight losses (including FA Cup) with no goals scored, had severely dented hopes of making the cut again. Home form had collapsed, which paired with poor results on the road made for bleak reading of seasonal stats to date. The 25 man squad didn't look up to the task, no matter who got chosen to play on any given day. Chris Hughton was pragmatic but realised there was a crisis that required to be fixed somehow. He said, 'we have no choice but to get on with it, roll our sleeves up and show the quality that we've got. We need to show the fighting spirit and togetherness we know we have.' Of course, once the team kicked off he could only watch and his words and influence kinda stayed in the technical area & dressing room. It was up to the selected match-day players to go get points or let everybody, at the club & also watching, down again. * * * match report: Albion got a point to break their duck and somehow prevented hosts scoring. Propper limped off after 10 minutes but Kayal played very well thereafter and was part of a backs to the wall team performance. Bruno lasted as long as he could prior to Bernardo relieving him to take up the sword with 20 mins to go. Ryan made a couple of saves and fortune favoured Seagulls when a brace of hosts efforts hit woodwork. Hughton said, 'we had to show a work ethic and determination. We are lacking confidence in front of goal and a bit of creativity. The reaction out there showed we are not such a bad team after all. It feels like a really good point for us.' Brighton fans congratulated green shirts at the end, pleased with the clean sheet and battling defensive display. The side had gone back to basics, using much of the old promotion team today. And they did ok too by any standards. So rot was effectively stopped at this juncture... with four games to go. Stats; shape 352-451, poss 68%-32%, on target 5-0, off target 13-4, blocks 4-1, crosses 38-8, o/s 0-1, corners 14-1, tackles 12-24, fouls 0-8, yellows 0-1, subs 3-2 . Gate 31,096, away 2748 . Weather - warm & sunny . MoM - Kayal. 1 Ryan, 2 Bruno (30 Bernardo 70), 4 Duffy, 5 Dunk, 3 Bong, 13 Gross, 6 Stephens Y, 24 Propper (7 Kayal 10), 20 March, 17 Murray, 19 Izquierdo. Subs - 27 Button, 33 Burn, 16 Jahanbakhsh, 9 Locadia, 10 Andone. Prem P34 . W6 D4 L7 F17 A23 . W3 D3 L11 F15 A30 . Pt34 Po17 = 1.00pt/gm. Wins = 26.4%, Loss = 52.9% Season7 (1st) - not Premier League. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Wolves away, Falmer years - C'ship 12/13, 14/15 - 16/17 . Seasons 2, 4-6. Wanderers v Albion (A) from 11/12: -, 3-3, -, 1-1, 0-0, 0-2 . W = 1 D = 3 L = 0 memorable match: Season6 (A) - onwards & upwards during a last C'ship visit to Molineux. Season6 Championship (A) 14/4/17 - w 0-2 ~ Knockaert 2. It was Good Friday and tv schedules set the kick-off for this run-in clash to 5pm. Albion hadn't been back to Molineux for over 18 months but of the side then that had got an app here, merely Zamora & Greer were no longer at Seagulls. The 15/16 squad had finished 3rd with 89pts, although beaten merely by goal difference. But now with five fixtures to complete, Albion were vastly superior on gd to play-off contenders and occupied first place by 2pts from title favourites Newcastle. A large group of 2.7k travelling support went up to the midlands to see if Albion could win after 3 draws there in previous Chapionship campaigns. In build up to the Easter fixtures people in the city of Brighton & Hove were asked to wear blue & white. On the day Seagulls wore home kit - as they were to for those four remaining matches. * match report: In the event Albion reached the same number of points as last term when registering a record 11th away victory. Visitors weathered hosts opening gambit and got into the game. At the psychological moment prior to the interval Seagulls took the lead. Stockwell booted up field and Knockaert collected before driving in low from outside the area (45min). Hughton replaced injured March with 20 minutes left, as well-supported travellers continued to counter attack locals threats. It was such a move involving Murphy & Murray that gave Knockaert his second goal from another low strike (82min). Norwood took to the field, as rain poured at Molineux, to help BHA see it out and get a first win there to boot. Hughton said, 'four points will do it. We would like to do it as quickly as possible but you have to keep level-headed because if you lose the next game then it all changes. The focus will be on trying to win on Easter Monday.' Brighton fans were hoping that would be the case and the team would go on and lift the championship title on or by the last fixture in early May. Stats; h-t 0-1, goals 45,82, poss 51%-49%, on target 4-2, off target 4-7, corners 6-3, o/s 0-2, fouls 13-10, yellows 1-0, subs 2-3 . att 23,221 Stockdale, Bruno, Huenemeier, Dunk, Pocognoli, Knockaert, Stephens, Sidwell, March (Murphy), Hemed (Norwood), Murray. Champ's P42 . W27 D8 L7 . F71 A35 . Pt89 Po1 . W = 64.2% L = 16.6% Season5 (A) 19/9/15 - 0-0. Albion's start to the season was breaking records. It seemed it was way back in the fifties that BHA last opened their campaign with such success. And Brighton fans were loving it, especially after much disappointment from last term (see below and compare points tally). Chris Hughton appeared to be working wonders, selecting from an almost fully fit squad that included many signings to help boost a once supposed mere top-ten finish. An unbeaten side went to Moilneux brimming with confidence, being five points clear at top of the table prior to kick-off. On a nice September afternoon, 20k turned up to see if there was going to be a shock on the cards. * match report: It was yet another draw with Wanderers and Albion failed once more to beat the West Midlands outfit on their turf. For the first time this term Brighton failed to find the net but not without trying very hard (see stats). Wolves goalie proved to be the hero with a man of the match performance, thwarting scoring chances again & again. With twenty mins gone, Murphy was upended in the area but Hemed's spot kick was blocked twice by the keeper. Hemed then cleared off the line ten minutes later to keep parity continuing. In the second period Wolves had a player sent straight off, only a few moments after resumption of play, for a foul on Rosenior. Seagulls maintained one-way traffic thereafter but couldn't break down the home defence. Hughton said, 'we could have done more in the final third. We needed that one moment. You have to give them credit but we made it too comfortable for their keeper. But after the disappointment we still have to realise we have done great so far this season.' And Brighton fans would drink to that amazing revelation as well. Stats; poss 44-56, on target 1-8, off target 4-4, blocked 1-7, corners 3-4, fouls 10-18, o/s 2-3, yellow 1-2, red 1-0. Stockdale, Bruno, Greer, Dunk, Bong, Rosenior, Stephens, Kayal, LuaLua (Zamora), Murphy, Hemed (Manu). Champ's P8 . W6 D2 L0 . F11 A5 . Pt20 Po1 . W = 75% L = 0% Season4 (A) 20/12/14 - 1-1 ~ Bent. It was the last Saturday before Christmas when hard core devoted made tracks to the west midlands instead of shopping in Churchill Square. Although the season of goodwill reached climax soon, a lot of Brighton fans were a tad disappointed by later stages of 2014. Instead of anticipating a play-off push during 2015, we were now faced with a relegation battle of titanic proportions. Albion had one win in seventeen and went up to Moly off the back of three straight defeats. The team had accepted collective responsibility for lack of points, backing Sami Hyypia as the man capable of saving the day. That pointed the finger of blame toward Tony Bloom and his sidekick David Burke for their disastrous turn-round of players in the summer. * match report: Bruno started in midfield for once but it was his sending off for a two-footer around the hour mark that was one factor in preventing Albion taking all three points in the black country. Seagulls were out of the blocks like they intended to fly free and took an early lead. Calderon was able to find space down the right and put his centre onto the head of ex-England striker Bent (10min) on loan from Villa. It was a crucial opener, albeit actual chances were still few & far between. By contrast Wolves had to put two subs on from beginning of the second period to get a grip on the game. And they were awarded a pen soon after when Stockdale collided with a gold-shirt - but lino flagged for a dive by the local hero, so Ref reversed his decision. Gardner (61m) and later Ince (74m), shored up defence for ten good men as visitors attempted to hold on and grind out a one-nil victory. Colunga got on with five minutes left but then Wanderers snatched a point following a corner two mins from time (88min). Stockdale made some excellent saves, especially when pressure became intense at end of each half. On stats alone, Albion were still way short of looking like winners but it's goals that count and with a little more luck and 11 men, might just have keep it clean until the final whistle from a battling display. As a consequence, Sami Hyypia resigned as manager early in the following week - just before Christmas. Stockdale, Calderon, Halford, Dunk, J Bennett, Bruno, Forster-Caskey, Holla, March (Gardner), Bent (Colunga), Teixeira (Ince). Champ's P22 . W3 D10 L9 . F22 A30 . Pt19 Po22 . W = 13.6% L = 40.9% Season3 - not C'ship. Season2 (A) 10/11/12 - 3-3 ~ CMS, Buckley, Dobbie. It had been a few years since Albion last visited Molineux. We were first a Championship club during the early to mid noughties, while Wolves had plenty of Prem history on their resume. The wheel of fortune had brought us together again and our future looked promising now that we'd finally got the Amex and were managed by Gus Poyet. He assembled a better second season squad for BHA, although results to date were mixed. The problem was Seagulls looked ok in flight but lacked bite when zeroing in on target. Also we lacked a goal-scoring midfielder and Spanish ace Vicente hadn't gotten over injury or played any sort of game since last term. On the positive side we didn't concede many but an average of 1.5pt/gm wasn't gonna get us into play-offs come next May. * match report: In the event this fixture ended with six goals scored and a point apiece in bizarre circumstances. Wanderers opened both their account and our defence to take the lead a tad easily (22min). Calderon replaced injured Bridge fifteen minutes later. Just before halftime CMS struck the equaliser in superb fashion (43m). Then WW had a bloke sent off for excessive foul play on Bridcutt. After the interval Brighton pressed for a winner but ten men hit back and fired one past Kuszczak from distance (61m). Barnes and Buckley subbed immediately and Will pulled us level again after a decent forward move (72m). BHA went for the winner but were only ahead on stats. At the death Ref gave us a dodgy pen, duly dispatched by Dobbie after he ran to grab the ball (89m). In stoppage Wolves got a point when netting with a soft header from a f-k (90+). Poyet was furious with the result and said, 'It is not good enough. you need to do the basics and we didn't do it.' Kuszczak, Bruno, Greer, Dunk, Bridge (Calderon), Crofts (Buckley), Bridcutt, Orlandi, Lopez (Barnes), Mackail-Smith, Dobbie. Champ's P16 . W6 D6 L4 . F22 A14 . Pt24 Po8 . W = 37.5% L = 25% Season1 - not C'ship. * * * * * Withdean Era: 12 seasons from 1999 to 2011. Seasons 4 02/3, 6 04/5, 7 05/6 - Champonship. Withdean era: Wolves v Albion 1-1, 1-1, 1-0 . . . W = 0 D = 2 L = 1 memorable match: Season6 (A) - Brighton fans liked the place, it was where we could dream of better times to come. Noughties last there - 22/4/06 (A) Championship. Our last trip to Molineux of three this decade, all at C'ship standard. see: Seasons 4, 6, 7 for club & stadium info. Also Bobby Zamora, Gary Hart & Paul McShane.
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Previous encounters (Wolves )
WOLVERHAMPTON - Home, Falmer Years: 18/19 - 22/23 Prem, seasons 8-12 . 12/13, 14/15 - 16/17 C'ship, seasons 2, 4-6. Albion record @ Amex: W = 3 D = 3 L = 2 Manager: Julen Lopetegui (2022) . Experience: former keeper became a coach in Spain at national & top club level. previously Steve Davis (interim), Bruno Lage (21-22) - P42 W = 40.4% @ July '22 . Experience: fairly new to Prem but okish in Portugal. Nuno Espirito Santo (17-21) - W = 51.5% @ Aug '20 . Experience: took Wanderers on a journey to hit heights. Ground: Molineux 32k . Nickname: Wolves . Shirt: old gold. Prem record from 11/12 to 22/23; 20, (23 C'ship), (1 L1), (7, 14, 15 / 1 C), 7, 7, 13, 10, 15 @ 7/2/23. Prem recent Best = 7th, Worst = 20th . Relegated - '12. C21: top ten - '19, '20, '22 . bottom six - '10, '11, relegated - '04, '12. Prem points: 25, - - - - - -, 57, 59 / 45, 51, 20. Recent Managers; Kenny Jackett (13-16), Walter Zenga (2016), Paul Lambert (16-17), Nuno Espirito Santo (17-21). 22/23 odds at start: top half 9-4, bottom half 4-11, rel 5/1, stay up 1-8 . Sack BL 10/1. Expected to finish: in lower mid table. Run in from 8/4/23: Chelsea (H), Brentford (H), Leicester (A), Palace (H), Brighton (A), Villa (H), Man Utd (A), Everton (H), Arsenal (A) Run in forecast @ 1/4/23: ?pt > ?pts . Max was ? . Actual = ? . Po was ?th . Actual po = ?th WOLVES away; Prem. Seasn . W D L . F A GD . . . Pt Po pt/gm %Pt . W% L% 22/23 - 01 3 6 . 06 16 -10 . 06 15 = 0.60 30.0 . 10.0 60.0 - J Lopetegui & B Lage 21/22 - 08 3 8 . 18 18 00 .. 27 10 = 1.42 52.9 . 42.1 42.1 - Bruno Lage 20/21 - 05 5 9 . 15 27 -12 . 20 13 = 1.05 44.4 . 26.3 47.3 - N E Santo. 19/20 - 07 7 5 . 24 21 03 .. 28 07 = 1.47 47.4 . 36.8 26.3 - N E Santo, finish 25/7/20. 18/19 - 06 5 8 . 19 25 -06 . 23 07 = 1.21 40.3 . 31.5 42.1 - Nuno Espirito Santo. 13/14 - 17/18 not Premier League - see below, Seasons 4-6. Albion v Wolves (H) from 17/18: -, 1-0, 2-2, 3-3, 0-1, ? . . W = 1 D = 2 L = 1 . F6 A6 scorers: Murray, Maupay2, Propper, Connolly, Dunk. memorable match: Season10 (H) - six goals as the game swung from home to away and vice versa. For Away Falmer Years results and reports scroll further below. Season12, 6th Premier League (H) Sat 29/4/23 - Bizarrely last term's reversal here in Dec '21 may have highlighted how not to take things for granted at this level. Our previous record against Wolves at the Amex was ok since their initial Prem visit of Oct '18 (see scroll below). In Dec '19 and Jan '21 we drew here to give parity all round across four competitive home campaigns versus Wanderers (seasons 8-11). That first Prem win followed a good run when hosting them earlier in the C'ship, as the Amex was a veritable fortress by comparison to recent PL campaigns (seasons 2, 4-6). BHA were at a Dubai winter training camp during WC finals in December. * match report: tba stats: ht, goals, poss %-%, on, off, corners, fouls, yellows, subs, shape weather . gate . MoM team: . subs: bench: injured: . squad: Prem: P34 . W D L . F A . W D L . F A . Pt? Po? = x.xxpt/gm . W = xx% L = xx% Wolves: Quatr: Pl . W D L . . . F A GD . . Pt Po pt/gm . W% L% 3qtrs: 21 . 05 05 11 . 15 30 -15 . 20 15 = 0.95 . 23.8 52.3 hfwy: 19 . 04 05 10 . 12 27 -15 . 17 16 = 0.89 . 21.0 52.6 - J Lopetegui start: 10 . 02 03 05 . 04 12 -08 . 09 17 = 0.90 . 20.0 50.0 - B Lage EFL Cup: Forest 4pen3 1-1 (A) q-f . Gillingham 2-0 (H) R4 . Leeds 1-0 (H) R3 . Preston 2-1 (H) R2. FA Cup: Liverpool 0-1 (H) 2-2 (A) R3. Oct: 17th in table, 1pts off 18th at Q1. Jan: 16th, 3pts off 13th at halfway stage Q2. Season11, 5th Premier League (H) Wed 15/12/21 - L 0-1. In three of our last four terms in the Prem we'd entertained Wolves and done ok to boot. Goals were scored each time and results could have gone either way. Prior to 1st September Brighton fans anticipated getting in a new striker but the transfer window shut and guess what? It was mid December now and not long before the January transfer window opened once more. We therefore wondered what would happen next, if anything. Leading up to this evening fixture Albion had a rare weekend home postponement due to covid at Spurs. However it allowed a little respite in the punishing pre-festive Prem schedule and opportunity to check on our long list of injuries for signs of recovery. Meanwhile up in the black country, having re-established in the Prem, the old gold outfit was now bossed by Bruno Lage - another Portugese export via vagaries of the EFL. Wanderers admin men didn't exactly open money bags in the August window, merely spending about 25m. Pundits had Wolves as a club in transition and so the jury was out on progress until next year. However they were doing well this term and could be considered worthy opponents, if not downright dog dangerous. Brighton fielded a below strength side this evening due to a covid outbreak at the club among first team squad players - see below. * match report: Albion went down in a single goal game on the night, in front of a frustrated Amex crowd with many empty seats in stands due to that current covid variant scare. Those thousands of fans who did turn up may have left thinking it had also been an exercise in going thru basic motions because following instructions is no guarantee of a safe outcome either way - football or viral related. In stoppage time before the interval Wolves went ahead following a corner (45+1min). Potter shook things up during the second period but despite having chances to equalise Seagulls hardly took off - on a night to forget when flying restrictions were actually eased. Then a stop-start scrappy contest was also halted twice for Ref to fix his mic kit, which amounted to 11mins stoppage time. At the end of it all nothing had changed bar a couple of late subs to shake up midfield. Old problems of scoring at least one if we conceded first, again came home to roost. Albion had now gone 11 matches without a win, an unlikely record that nobody wanted to extend at this juncture. Potter said we had to weather the storm but in some respects it was set up for perfect failure. Our main striker was absent, which immediately put onus on others to find the net. But historically Albion found it hard to recruit goal-scorers and thus find necessary goals contributed from all around the pitch. Every BHA player appears capable of putting the ball into the old onion bag but very few do with any regularity. We won't list names but go to Archive and figure. Somehow a fix had to be found, or hold back future progress. After a fantastic start to our fifth campaign it seemed we were just returning to chasing the season and toiling once more from next January thru into May. Stats: ht 0-1, goals 45+, poss 59%-41%, on target 2-5, off target 10-3, corners 7-4, o/s 1-1, fouls 11-14, yellows 2-0, subs 3-3, shape 433-343 weather: dry & mild . gate: 30,362, away 3041 . MoM: Lamptey - kept trying. team: 1 Sanchez, 2 Lamptey, 34 Veltman, 33 Burn (capt) Y, 3 Cucurella, 20 March, 8 Bissouma Y (14 Lallana 84), 12 Mwepu (30 Richards 84), 15 Moder, 11 Trossard, 7 Connolly (10 Mac Allister 61). bench: 16 Scherpen (gk), 17 Alzate, 28 Roberts, 42 Leonard, 55 Turns, 58 Ferguson. squad: 18 Welbeck . injured: 4 Webster, 5 Dunk, 60 Sarmiento . ban: 24 Duffy . ill: 9 Maupay, 13 Gross. Prem: P16 . W2 D3 L3 . F6 A9 . W2 D5 L1 . F8 A8 . Pt20 Po13 = 1.25pt/gm . W = 25.0% L = 25.0% Quatr: Pl . W D L . . . F A GD . . Pt Po pt/gm . W% L% Total: 38 . 15 06 17 . 38 43 -05. 51 10 = 1.34 . 39.4 44.7 3qtrs: 29 . 14 04 11 . 29 23 06 . 46 07 = 1.58 . 48.2 37.9 Hfwy: 19 . 08 04 07 . 14 14 00 . 28 08 = 1.47 . 42.1 36.8 Start: 10 . 05 01 04 . 11 10 01 . 16 07 = 1.60 . 50.0 40.0 - Bruno Lage. EFL Cup: Spurs 2pen3 2-2 (H) R3, Forest 0-4 (A) R2. FA Cup: Norwich 0-1 (H) R4 . Sheff Utd 3-0 (H) R3. Oct: 7th in table and 4pts off top four at Q1. Jan: 8th, 6pts behind 5th at halfway Q2. Mar: 8th, 5pts off 5th at threequarters Q3. Out of FA Cup to bottom club at Molineux. May: finished 10th on 51pts, 5pts off 7th. Form tailed off to challenge for Europe. Season10, 4th Premier League (H) Sat 2/1/21 - 3-3 ~ Connolly, Maupay, Dunk. Coronavirus restrictions - Tier 3/4 = 0 fans. Attendance originally selected by ballot for 2000 home fans as per Tier 2 rating in Sussex during pre-Xmas December. Match played behind closed doors. We'd gotten to New Year but not yet to the usual halfway stage of this season due to that delayed Prem start back in mid September. The exclusive Prem merrygoround was revolving again and Albion initially intened to turn this season's ride into something like sensations Wolves had enjoyed since returning to the elite. Our history with visitors from the west midlands was diverse this century (see scroll below) but currently, Seagulls needed much more elevated flying to reach dizzy heights of Wanderers rise from lower levels. Object of the Prem exercise, handed by Tony Bloom to Graham Potter, was to get positive results from such meetings, push up the table and eventually establish inside the top ten. However Albion were emmersed in a different kind of ball game in merely fighting to stay in the division by next May. New Year resolutions from Brighton fans included: obtaining a profuse goal scorer or two, keeping clean sheets, beating the drop and returning to the Amex in '21. *** match report: Albion got a point in far from typical circumstances. Hosts led inside quarter of an hour when Connolly slotted home Trossard's assist (13min). Then they sat back and visitors of course got into top gear and quickly equalised while Seagulls flapped (19min). By halftime it was 1-3 following a Burn og (34min) and Wanderers pen (44min). At start of the second period Potter put on two tactical subs - Connolly off injured and Bissouma on a fifth yellow card and therefore suspended anyway. Immediately Maupay was floored in the area, got up and converted the spot kick (46min). Then Dunk later nodded a leveller, so parity was restored and still all to play for (70min). Lallana had come on and also booked Burn went off, resulting in more attacking options as Wolves strengthened rearguard action. At end of the day each outfit obtained a point - probably a fair result as per stats. Potter said his squad showed personality but aside from our dramatic comeback, Brighton fans posted plenty of opinion about what should happen both on & off pitch right from now. The fanbase seemed polarised, or split to measurable degree, between those ok to continue status quo and others wanting radical change. But if such alterations were soon deemed necessary in order to ensure BHA were still in the Prem come May, only Tony Bloom could decide. Stats: ht 1-1, goals 13,46,70-19,34,44, poss 54%-46%, on target 4-4, off target 3-4, blocks 6-3, o/s 1-0, crosses 20-14, corners 5-8, tackles 20-13, fouls 13-8, yellows 2-1, subs 3-2. Weather: cold. Team: 26 Sanchez, 34 Veltman, 4 Webster, 5 Dunk, 33 Burn Y (14 Lallana 69), 20 March, 3 White, 8 Bissouma Y (24 Propper 46), 7 Connolly (29 Zeqiri 46), 9 Maupay, 11 Trossard . Bench: (from 9 subs) 23 Steele, 30 Bernardo, 49 Molumby, 13 Gross, 10 Mac Allister, 16 Jahanbakhsh . Squad: 1 Ryan, 15 Moder . Injured: 2 Lamptey, 14 Lallana, 17 Alzate, 18 Welbeck . MoM: Webster. Prem: P17 . W0 D5 L4 . F10 A15 . W2 D3 L3 . F11 A13 . Pt14 Po17 = 0.82pt/gm. Wins = 11.7%, Loss = 4.1% Quatr: Pl . W D L . . . F A GD . . . Pt Po pt/gm . W% L% Total: 38 . 12 09 17 . 36 52 -16 . 45 13 = 1.18 . 31.5 44.7 3qtrs: 29 . 09 08 12 . 28 38 -10 . 35 13 = 1.20 . 31.0 41.3 Hfwy: 19 . 06 04 09 . 21 29 -08 . 22 14 = 1.15 . 31.5 47.3 Start: 10 . 05 02 03 . 11 11 00 .. 17 07 = 1.70 . 50.0 30.0 - NE Santo. EFL Cup: Stoke 0-1 (H) R2. FA Cup: So'ton 0-2 (H) R5, Chorley 0-1 (A) R4, Palace 1-0 (H) R3. Nov: when the first quarter ended, Wolves were 7th in the Prem table, 4pts off the top two. Jan: at the halfway stage Wanderers slipped to 14th in mid div. Mar: threequarters completed and merely 13th place. May: Prem 13th finish and below par after a tough campaign. Season9, 3rd Premier League (H) Sun 8/12/19 - 2-2 ~ Maupay, Propper. A busy month lay ahead with 3 games during the run up to Xmas then another 2 more before New Year. Five of all six December fixtures were selected for broadcast on pay tv, consequently majority of kickoff times got rescheduled. Wanderers were BHA's eighth home match to date and domestic form so far was: P7 W3 D2 L2 F10 A8 = 1.57pt/gm. But that was merely part of this seasonal story. Spurs were previously entertained back in October but rest of the big six giants wouldn't visit the Amex until immediately after the clock struck 12am on last day of December. Chelsea were first up here in '20 on New Year's Day. The proverbial run-in from mid March next took care of hosting Arsenal, Man Utd, Liverpool & Man City in quick succession up to end of April. All this meant, where were neccessary survival points to come from? For obvious reasons Brighton fans hoped the Amex would redevelop as a Falmer fortress and see us hold out against all manner of marauding Prem invaders to superior effect. One problem ongoing was getting strikers into scoring form to hit the net regularly. BHA record holder Murray was now in his twilight year, so the recognised replacements had to step up pdq. Trouble was, new Prem guys Maupay, Trossard & Connolly were inexperienced in the extreme, each with merely a handful of apps at this critical stage. Izquierdo was still long-term injured, March, Gross & Bissouma weren't always picked or fit to play, while Jahanbakhsh wasn't regular in the match-day squad. Die hards Stevens & Propper 'never' scored anyhow and on loan Mooy also had zero to date. Defenders like Webster, Duffy & Dunk were quite capable at set pieces but again there remained duck eggs for Burn, Montoya, Schelotto, Bong, Bernardo & Alzate. All these facts & figs pointed to Potter asking Tony Bloom to fund fees for a proven goal-scorer in the forthcoming January window. But perhaps that was Brighton fans merely wishful thinking. * * * match report: Maupay & Propper (who knew?) scored from open play during a hectic fifteen minutes prior to the interval (34 & 36 min). Wolves went ahead a little too easily when our defence evaporated (28min). And they netted a second giveaway when Seagulls lost possession and were opened up again with ease (44 min). Potter put on Murray & Jahanbakhsh with twenty minutes left but Albion were clueless how to open up Wanderers massed ranks once more. It all hung in balance, even VAR kept it on a knife edge when dismissing a WW pen appeal. Stephens got booked late on for a 5th card and subsequent suspension. Brighton fans felt it was unlucky not to win for all our possession but also lucky not to lose given visitors threats & chances. Potter was resigned to take a point knowing we'd again met tougher opponents here today than those clubs positioned below mid table. So thinking was we were getting better but not as yet the real deal by a long way. But another pukka striker would still be nice in the January window. Stats; shape 4321-541, h-t 2-2, goals 34,36-28,44, poss 61%-39%, on target 4-5, off target 9-8, corners 3-4, o/s 1-3, fouls 10-7, yellows 3-0, subs 2-3 . MoM - Mooy . Gate 30,189, away 3038 . Weather - cold & breezy. 1 Ryan, 46 Alzate, 15 Webster Y, 5 Dunk Y, 33 Burn, 13 Gross (16 Jahanbakhsh 68), 6 Stephens Y, 24 Propper, 18 Mooy, 11 Trossard (17 Murray 68), 7 Maupay . Subs - 27 Button, 22 Montoya, 30 Bernardo, 4 Duffy, 8 Bissouma. Squad - 3 Bong, 14 Balogun, 21 Schelotto . Injured - 19 Izquierdo, 20 March, 44 Connolly. Prem P16 . W3 D3 L2 . F12 A10 . W2 D1 L5 . F8 A14 . Pt19 Po12 = 1.18pt/gm. Wins = 31.2%, Loss = 43.7% Quart: Pl . W D L . . . F A GD . . . Pt Po pt/gm . W% L% Total: 38 . 15 14 09 . 51 40 11 . 59 07 = 1.55 . 39.4 23.6 - NE Santo, finish 27/7/20 3qtrs: 29 . 10 13 06 . 41 34 07 . 42 07 = 1.44 . 34.4 20.6 PREM SUSPENDED Hfwy: 19 . 07 09 03 . 29 24 05 . 30 07 = 1.57 . 36.8 15.7 Start: 10 . 02 06 02 . 13 13 00 . 12 11 = 1.20 . 20.0 20.0 - N E Santo. Europa League: q-f - Seville L 1-0. Last 16 - Olympiakos 1-1 (A) 1-0 (H). 32 - Espanyol 3-2 (A) 4-0 (H). group - Besiktas 0-1 (A) 4-0 (H), Braga 3-3 (A), 0-1 (H), Bratislava 1-2 (A) 1-0 (H), p-o - Torino 2-1 (H) 2-3 (A), qual 3 - Pyunik 4-0 (H) 0-4 (A), qual 2 - Crusaders 2-0 (H), 1-4 (A) EFL Cup: 4th rnd - Villa 2-1 (A), 3rd rnd - Reading 4pen2 1-1 (H) FA Cup: Man Utd 1-0 (A) 0-0 (H) R3. Aug: curse of previous Europa League qualification impacted opening Prem results. Oct: still a full schedule and in crowded mid table mix by end of first quarter Q1. New Year: outside top six, qual for last 32 of Eu Lg and in FAC4 draw via replay. March: in 6th when PL suspended. Last 16 Eu Lg. July: consistent form to chase top five. Edged out of Europa '21 qualifying. Season8 2nd Premier League (H) Sat 27/10/18 - 1-0 ~ Murray. Two years and a week previously Albion entertained the historical ex-Prem outfit during Championship days (scroll to Season6 below). Now it was billed a PL contest but just as significant ongoing to both teams. Today marked the first quarter stats on final whistle and thus set targets for immediate future this term. The Amex was a difficult place to gain three points for travellers, outside of the top six giant elite clubs. Only top-ten finishers Leicester had managed that last season but wiley Chris Hughton realised the threat carried now by progressive big-spending Black Country Wanderers. Albion needed the community stadium to be a fortress once more in the quest to consolidate in mid table if at all possible. * * * match report: In the event, on a very cold afternoon, Murray scored his 100th goal for BHA to become the club's post war record holder. It was just enough to register victory in a contest Seagulls could so easily have lost. Glenn had wanted to start following being knocked out the previous Saturday up at Newcastle. Hughton duly went with that starting eleven but the first half home performance was dire. Soon after the interval our hitman notched his century when unmarked, clipping in a Bruno miscue across the area (48min). Kayal, Dunk & eventually Knockaert were booked while hosts kept unlucky visitors at bay. Bissouma came on in later stages to bolster two lines of defenders as Wolves pressed for an equaliser. Knockaert got on late to join in with with backs to the wall mentality. Hughton said, 'to win three in a row for a club like us is very difficult. We are more pleased with that than the performance. A club in its second season is always looking down, so to be nine points clear of the bottom three at this stage is good.' Most Brighton fans would agree, although realised without Murray still here we would definately be in trouble down there right now. Stats; shape 4411-343, h-t 0-0, goal 48, poss 40%-60%, on target 1-7, off target 5-8, blocks 1-10, crosses 9-36, corners 1-10, o/s 0-1, tackles 21-12, fouls 11-8, yellows 3-0, subs 2-3 . MoM Murray . Gate 30,654 ground record, away 2992 . Weather - cold, sunny intervals. 1 Ryan, 2 Bruno, 4 Duffy, 5 Dunk Y77, 3 Bong, 16 Jahanbakhsh, 6 Stephens, 7 Kayal Y52, 19 Izquierdo (11 Knockaert 81 Y90), 20 March (8 Bissouma 71), 17 Murray . Subs - 23 Steele, 30 Bernardo, 14 Balogun, 9 Locadia, 10 Andone. Prem P10 . W3 D1 L1 . F8 A6 . W1 D1 L3 . F3 A7 . Pt14 Po11 = 1.40pt/gm. Wins = 40%, Loss = 40% Quatr: Pl . W D L . . . F A GD . . . Pt Po pt/gm . W% L% Total; 38 . 16 09 13 . 47 46 01 .. 57 07 = 1.50 . 42.1 34.2 - Nuno Espirito Santo. 3qtrs; 29 . 12 07 10 . 37 35 02 .. 43 07 = 1.48 . 41.3 34.4 Hfwy; 19 . 07 05 07 . 20 22 -02 . 26 11 = 1.36 . 36.8 36.8 Start; 10 . 04 03 03 . 09 09 00 .. 15 10 = 1.50 . 40.0 20.0 - Santo. EFL Cup; 3rd rnd - Leicester 1-3 pens 0-0 (H), 2nd rnd north - Sheff Wed 0-2 (A) FA Cup; s-f - Watford 3-2 aet, q-f - Man Utd 2-1 (H), 5th rnd - Bristol C 0-1 (A), 4th rnd - Shrews 2-2 (A) 3-2 (H), 3rd rnd - Liverpool 2-1 (H) Aug; know any top agents? Wanderers got a theme working and are hopeful of making it continue at highest level. Plus a 'little percentage' to do the deal. October; excellent start to make the top ten in first year back for a while. Out of EFL Cup on pens. New Year; top ten and cutting the mustard without killing the old gold goose. FA Cup progress. March; in a scrap for seventh place. FA Cup semis. Season7 (1st) - not Premier League. WOLVES PREVIOUS PREM; Seasn . W D L . . . F A GD . . Pt Po pt/gm . . W% L% 22/23 - 21/22 - 15 06 17 . 38 43 -05 . 51 10 = 1.34 . 39.4 44.7 - Bruno Lage @ 22/5/22 Made the top ten but tailed off after appearing to challenge earlier for a place in Europe. 20/21 - 12 09 17 . 36 52 -16 . 45 13 = 1.18 . 31.5 44.7 - NE Santo @ 24/5/21 Endured a tough season stuck in mid table, progress hindered by squad injuries. Manager left by mutual consent. 19/20 - 15 14 09 . 51 40 11 .. 59 07 = 1.55 . 39.4 23.6 - NE Santo. PL SUSPENDED, complete @ 27/7/20 Another excellent campaign stewarded by NES. Equalled last term's placing but missed top six on GD. 18/19 - 16 09 13 . 47 46 01 .. 57 07 = 1.50 . 42.1 34.2 - Nuno Espirito Santo. Was a Prem team in waiting last term but more than hit the ground running for this elite campaign. Got a Europa League qualifing spot too for next season. 12/13 - 17/18 not Premier League - see below, Seasons 2 & 4-6. 11/12 - 05 10 23 . 40 82 -42 . 25 20 = 0.65 . 13.1 60.5 Knockouts from 11/12; FA Cup - 3rd rnd, 3rd, 1st, 3rd, 3rd, 5th, 3rd, s-f, 3rd, 5th, 4th, 3rd. EFL Cup - 4th rnd, 3rd, 1st, 1st, 3rd, 3rd, 4th, 3rd, 4th, 2nd, 3rd, q-f. Europa League: nq - - - - - - nq, q-f, nq, nq, nq. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Wolves home, Falmer years - C'ship 12/13, 14/15 - 16/17 . Seasons 2, 4-6. Albion v Wanderers (H) from 11/12: -, 2-0, -, 1-1, 0-1, 1-0 . W = 2 D = 1 L = 1 memorable match: Season2 (H) - a time of contrasting fortunes with the old gold outfit. Season6 Championshp (H) 18/10/16 - 1-0 ~ Baldock. Brighton fans had witnessed a reversal of fortune in this fixture at very beginning of 2016, during an awful Xmas & New Year blip in the middle of last term's exciting campaign. Once again Albion were forecast for play-offs, having started this season well, being on target for enough points to make knockout phases. Chris Hughton now had a stronger squad on paper, signing Duffy, Norwood, Sidwell, Murray (loan) & Pocognoli (loan). And even allowing for injuries & suspensions, he had good quality cover in defence & across midfield. Maybe Seagulls were a little light up front but with the right service, both strikers (as 442 preferred at home) were more than capable of hitting back of the net. The question was, could they do it regularly? On the night 25k turned up, amid more rail chaos, to see if they could. * match report: Seagulls won the match by a single goal and remained on heels of the top two. But victory came from the one they put away, while visitors missed their chances in an even contest. The winner came early when Skalak and Bong combined and Baldock headed in the cross off the bar (14min). And it wasn't all one way traffic thereafter as the away outfit had to come forward - especially in closing stages. Brighton defended well to earn another clean sheet, although Dunk received a 5th booking and ban next time out. Late in the evening Hughton withdrew Bruno injured and then Baldock as he went more defensive. In stoppage Pocognoli made up numbers as Wolves carried a threat with numerous corners. So Albion hung on to that slender lead and Hughton said, 'Sam is a team player, works hard and is at the right place at the right time.' Brighton fans were grateful he was and also happy to take three points, despite seeing lack of real chances created to abate that nervous ending. Stats; ht 1-0, goals 14-x, poss 48%-52%, on target 3-4, off target 6-7, corners 9-10, o/s 0-1, fouls 14-11, yellows 2-3, subs 3-3 . att 25,231 Stockdale, Bruno (Goldson), Duffy, Dunk, Bong, Knockaert (Pocognoli), Norwood, Sidwell, Skalak, Baldock (Stephens), Murray. Champ's P13 . W7 D4 L2 . F17 A9 . Pt25 Po3 . W = 53.8% L = 15.3% Season5 (H) 1/1/16 - L 0-1. New Year arrived and so we all turned up for community stadium entertainment on a Friday afternoon instead of at the weekend. Second half of the season was underway and if anything like the first was sure to be exciting. However, no matter what Albion had achieved in first half of this campaign, they were without a win in five fixtures and had just suffered two straight losses at the Amex. Those fine lines of Championship form had fortunately gone Seagulls way since August but lately last year's problem of not scoring goals came back with a vengeance. Every team was going to have a bad patch but if Albion's dreams of promotion were to stay on track, clean sheets and consistent strikers were essential. Somehow Chris Hughton had to rejuvenate a squad hit by injuries and maybe get others in, to increase quality all round, now the transfer window was open. On the day about 27k attended and the match was on tv too. * match report: Albion crashed to a third successive defeat at the Amex, to bring them down to earth at very start of 2016. To compound present troubles they failed to keep a clean sheet or even score again when beat at home. Seagulls fell behind when new cent-def Goldson put a low cross past Stockwell at his near post (32min). This single goal then secured all points for visitors but BHA battered them throughout and could be considered a tad unlucky not to rescue a point at least. Hughton threw on Manu around the hour mark and later switched to 442 with introduction of Hemed up front. But all the huffing & puffing in the world could not alter the score after ninety or so minutes. Hughton said of our poor form, 'the run is obviously a concern and a frustration, we have to find ways of winning matches and scoring goals.' It was kinda stating the bleeding obvious and what Brighton fans wanted to know was, what was he going to do about it?' Stats; poss 64%-36%, on target 6-4, off target 11-1, corners 10-4, o/s 1-1, fouls 9-9, yellows 1-1. Stockdale, Bruno, Goldson, Dunk, Calderon, Stephens, Crofts (Hemed), Kayal, Wilson, Zamora (Manu), Murphy Champ's P25 . W11 D11 L3 . F31 A25 . Pt44 Po4 . W = 44% L = 12% Season4 (H) 14/3/15 - 1-1 ~ Bruno. There was a mighty battle for auto promo, let alone p-o places, at top of this division but Albion were far from actually being involved - unlike Wanderers. As a disappointing campaign extended into the run-in, Seagulls were stuck in lower third of the table and hoping at least to win a few fixtures at the Amex until the early May climax. In fact four of the last five home matches were against top-eight clubs and would be a useful test of how far the current squad had come under Chris Hughton. He had indeed managed to reverse poor domestic form under 2014 failure Sami Hyypia and fans were latterly beginning to enjoy games at the community stadium once more. The 50pt target for safety was 10pt away before k-o but Brighton fans were not too worried about threat of relegation at this stage. On the day 27k was the official attendance with over 2k travelled from Wolverhampton. * match report: On stats alone it was pretty even and both goals were scored late in the day. Each side huffed & puffed and if Albion had taken a couple of first-half chances, might have got all the points. But with recognised BHA strikers out of form, perhaps Brighton fans expected too much. There was plenty of pressure on visitors third and Seagulls defended fairly well but couldn't get a breakthrough until flooding forward on a counter attack. Bruno ended the move with a low drive after a Wolves clearance rebounded (70min). Within five minutes opposition restored parity when Stockdale palmed a cross into the net (74min). Despite this setback the ex-Fulham keeper made three crucial saves to prevent visitors nicking a win. Hughton elected to leave changes late and injected O'Grady & LuaLua into the fray immediately after conceding. New boy Ledesma got a few seconds at the end. Hughton said, 'all we can do is keep working. CMS gives us great running ability and a good outlet. First and foremost you want a striker to be a team player - you can't fault his efforts.' Supporters went home thinking that when our finishing was finally up to speed, somebody was gonna get a right beating at the Amex. Stockdale, Bruno, Greer, Dunk, Bennett, Holla (LuaLua), Teixeira (Ledesma), Kayal, Calderon, Mackail-Smith (O'Grady), Stephens. Champ's P37 . W9 D14 L14 . F42 A46 . Pt41 Po19 . W = 24.3% L = 37.8% Season3 - not C'ship. Season2 (H) 4/5/13 - 2-0 ~ LuaLua 2. Brighton had qualified for play-offs in our previous match at Leeds but Wolves were second from bottom and in deep trouble. Albion had not lost at the Amex since very end of 2012, while poor away form nudged Wanderers nearer to relegation. Gus Poyet said, 'the Championship is becoming more and more difficult so we are delighted to be in the play-offs.' Meanwhile WW supporters had been in this position before but in elite days of the Prem! The old gold and black club appeared to have a losing mentality, so would have to rely on results elsewhere to get a similar miracle as per B&W devoted at Falmer. There was 30k (ground record) crammed into the Amex because Wolves had a full contingent of fans to witness their demise. * match report: The end came quick, if painful and by 5pm they were in League One for '13/14. Meanwhile Albion would face Palace in play-offs for half a chance at the Prem. After five minutes LuaLua shot Seagulls ahead and we never looked back. Not long before the interval he did it again with skill (39min). Wanderers were down and out and produced a performance to confirm their rapid decline. Brighton fans were there to celebrate a super season and so didn't rub visitors nose in on a very happy afternoon for home support. Gus Poyet wanted to manage in the elite and said, 'we are in a great moment as a team and as a club.' And so say all of us. Kuszczak, David, Greer, Upson, Painter (Hammond), Crofts, Bridcutt, Vicente (Barker), Barnes, Ulloa, LuaLua (El-Abd). Champ's P46 . W19 D18 L9 . F69 A43 . Pt75 Po4 . W = 41.3% L = 19.5% Season1 - not C'ship. * * * * * Withdean Era: 12 seasons from 1999 to 2011. Seasons 4 02/3, 6 04/5, 7 05/6 - Championship. Withdean era: Albion v Wolves 4-1, 0-1, 1-1 . . . W = 1 D = 1 L = 1 memorable match: Season4 (H) - an outstanding result in a season of change & struggle on & off the pitch. see: Seasons 4, 6, 7 for club & stadium info. Also Dick Knight & Mark McGhee.
Wolves - Away, Falmer Years: 18/19 - 22/23 Prem, seasons 8-12 . 12/13, 14/15 - 16/17 C'ship, seasons 2, 4 - 6. Albion record @ Wanderers: W = 3 D = 5 L = 1 WOLVES home; Molineux. Seasn . W D L . F A GD . Pt Po pt/gm %Pt . . W% L% 22/23 - 04 2 5 . 09 14 -5 .. 14 15 = 1.27 70.0 . 36.3 45.4 - Julen Lopetegui & Bruno Lage 21/22 - 07 3 9 . 20 25 -5 . 24 10 = 1.26 47.0 . 36.8 47.3 - Bruno Lage. 20/21 - 07 4 8 . 21 23 -2 . 25 13 = 1.31 55.5 . 36.8 42.1 - N E Santo. 19/20 - 08 7 4 . 27 19 8 .. 31 07 = 1.63 52.5 . 42.1 21.0 - N E Santo, finish 27/7/20. 18/19 - 10 4 5 . 28 21 7 .. 34 07 = 1.78 59.6 . 52.6 26.3 - Nuno Espirito Santo. 13/14 - 17/18 not Premier League - see below, Seasons 4-6. Wolves v Albion (A) from 17/18: -, 0-0, 0-0, 2-1, 0-3, 2-3 . . W = 2 D = 2 L = 1 . F7 A4 scorers: Dunk, Mac Allister, Trossard, Bissouma, Lallana, Mitoma, Gross. memorable match: Season11 (A) - as good as it gets for displays on the road. For Home Falmer Years results & reports scroll further up. Season12, 6th Premier League (A) Sat 5/11/22 - W 2-3 ~ Lallana, Mitoma, Gross Molineux was an extra nice place to visit last term and overall Seagulls had done ok there as a Prem side (see away scroll below). It began in Apr '19 and then Mar '20 with two consecutive goalless draws. We lost there in May '21 but won in Apr '22 (seasons 8-11). So the trend over those four springtime matches tended towards parity. We wondered how November would now go. In fact our C'ship record there was pretty good too and for some exclusive footy reason certain venues appeared lucky for visitors - Moly was one such ground (see C'ship away scroll below). Albion head coach now was Roberto de Zerbi since Sept - just prior to the Prem pause for Nations League group matches. His record to date was: W1 D2 L3 for the month of October. Wolves spent 35m by start of the season, adding a few more men from abroad during the open August window. Before end of the first quarter (mid Oct) they'd sacked their manager and an interim coach remained at the helm until their wanted man was finally on board during the Prem pause for WC finals. Meanwhile words among Wanderers support became progressively negative. And with good reason; they'd been there before, a decade ago during 2012 (see seasons 1/2 below). So the circle of elite inclusion turns, club cycles wax & wane, league levels rise & fall, footy deja vu interjects into reality. * match report: there were footy fireworks on the pitch for this bonfire night meeting prior to darkness. Albion were set alight from kickoff and Lallana rocketed the ball into the net from a Trossard pass (10mins). Hosts hit back quickly with their own fire-power to equalise (12mins). Next Dunk was penalised for handball and Ref looked at the monitor. Sanchez went the wrong way at the spot kick (35mins) so Wolves now led. Just before halftime Mitoma headed home from a Lallana cross (44mins) to level things once more. In time added on Mitoma got dragged off his feet and hosts were reduced to 10 men for the second half. Chances came & went for both sides and it appeared honours might end even. But following a fluid move down the left and pass across the area Gross was on hand to smash in the winner (83mins). De Zerbi made late changes to keep the attacks going and these paid off. In stoppage he shored up defence while Wolves were rampaging for a late equaliser. Brighton saw it out and took all three points back to Sussex. Travelling support was happy, so was Roberto and everybody had a nice afternoon in the west midlands bar those who lived there. Blue & white proved to be victorious away colours, making it two wins in a row after beating Chelsea at the Amex. The feelgood factor continued and Brighton fans felt the club was back on track following recent regime change. Hopefully onwards & upwards. stats: ht 2-2, goals 12,35-10,44,83, poss 29%-71%, on 5-8, off 1-7, blocks 2-4, corners 4-9, o/s 1-1 tackles 18-15, fouls 15-11, yellows 2-0, red 1-0, subs 4-4, shape 433-4231 weather: dry/wet . gate: 30,732 away 3007 . MoM: Lallana - great game. team: 1 Sanchez 13 Gross 4 Webster 5 Dunk 30 Estupinan 10 Mac Allister 25 Caicedo 7 March 14 Lallana 22 Mitoma 11 Trossard. subs: 18 Welbeck 65 14, 27 Gilmour 82 30, 21 Undav 82 11, 34 Veltman 90 22 bench: 23 Steele (gk) 2 Lamptey 6 Colwill 19 Sarmiento 20 Enciso injured: 0 . rehab: 15 Moder . squad: 28 Ferguson Prem: P13 . W3 D2 L1 . F10 A4 . W3 D1 L3 . F12 A13 . Pt21 Po6 = 1.61pt/gm . W = 46.1% L = 30.7% Season11, 5th Premier League (A) Sat 30/4/22 - W 0-3 ~ Mac Allister, Trossard, Bissouma. This was our penultimate trip on that long road to 19 Prem venues once more. Molineux was a place we liked to visit, even though Prem results hadn't exactly been all that positive over our three meetings there. A whole year ago was a case in point - see scroll below, Season10 during lockdown. With this season drawing to a close Albion had another shot at registering a first elite win at WW against old gold. And truth be told, Seagulls current away form was sufficient to get us into a mid-table berth and keep out of the bottom six for the first time in five campaigns. Away stats from '17 thru '21 were: W 2 3 4 5 . D 5 4 7 5 . L 12 12 8 9 . W14 = 18.4% . D21 = 27.6% . L41 = 53.9% . Graham Potter had stated intentions to go for a top ten spot, so that meant picking up points from our last four fixtures - starting today. Wolverhampton meanwhile were chasing a place in Europe next term and keen to re-establish as a pukka Prem outfit as in days of yore. * match report: Albion gained three points to set a Prem record of 44pts thus far. In the first half Ref/VAR gave visitors 2 pens. Mac Allister hit a post with the first but converted the second (42min). Hosts put on 2 subs after turnaround but it was Seagulls who flew forward and achieved a super second half display. Trossard bagged the second goal when dribbling in the area (70min). And Bissouma sealed a terrific victory when scoring from outside the box (86min). Potter was very proud of the players and wanted stay in the top ten with 3 games to go. Brighton fans remembering scenes of 25 years ago when staying in the Football League, were happy too. All in all it was another tremendous away day for blue & white. Stats: ht 0-1, goals 42,70,86, poss 49%-51%, on target 1-9, off target 5-4, blocks 5-4, corners 7-3, crosses 20-12, o/s 1-1, tackles 19-22, fouls 6-4, yellows 2-1, subs 3-3, shape 352-3511. weather: nice . gate: 31,243, away 1795 . MoM: Trossard - class finish. team: 1 Sanchez, 34 Veltman, 5 Dunk, 3 Cucurella Y, 20 March (2 Lamptey 87), 12 Mwepu (4 Webster 62), 8 Bissouma, 25 Caicedo, 11 Trossard (13 Gross 89), 10 Mac Allister, 18 Welbeck . bench: 23 Steele (gk), 24 Duffy, 14 Lallana, 17 Alzate, 9 Maupay, 58 Ferguson. squad: 42 Leonard, 57 Offiah . injured: 15 Moder, 60 Sarmiento. Prem: P35 . W3 D7 L7 . F12 A22 . W7 D7 L4 . F22 A20 . Pt44 Po9 = 1.25pt/gm . W = 28.5% L = 31.4% Season10, 4th Premier League (A) Sun 9/5/21 - L 2-1 ~ Dunk. Covid restrictions: no fans (post-lockdown, Tier 3/4/5). We'd gotten to a Sunday lunchtime during early May but not yet to the last fixture of this season due to that delayed Prem start back in mid September. Wolves had an ultra long season last year beginning with Europa League matches back in July '19, until eventually ending that extended competition in August '20. Their record on returning to the Prem was also something Albion would love to emulate but reality says we have got to grow from the bottom up. Three previous consecutive lower order finishes were pretty basic to say very least, so Seagulls were tasked with vastly improving on those places this term. However it proved to be something of a false dawn from the get go and yet another season of struggle in the bottom six. BHA had always managed to hover above the drop zone throughout and were all but mathematically proven safe, so it was now an exercise in how many points we'd actually register as a half-decent fourth Prem tally. *** match report: Albion crashed to defeat in the last minute of normal time. And prior to conceding two late goals (76 & 90 mins), Dunk had been sent off (53min) and Maupay also got a red card after play finished - for lipping Ref. Seagulls bossed the first half and led from a Dunk header (13min). But it was then our same old story as in many other Prem matches, where BHA just cannot score a second goal. And blue & white were made to pay dearly following Dunk's dismissal for a last man standing offence. Wolves upped the ante and took full home advantage to boot. Potter put on 2 defensive subs at the hour mark to have & hold but it all went tits up in the last quarter of an hour. Brighton fans watching on BBC1 were left frustrated before Sunday lunch got digested and it kinda spoilt the whole weekend footy funtime to boot. It looked even worse on late night motd low-lights (yes, very last game shown at nearer midnight) as masocistic fans replayed agonies of that self inflicted trauma. But it was all over bar repercussions now and these meant our captain & main striker would be missing off the teamsheet. It was another mad, bad, sad for dad Brighton tale that fans go thru following this crazy club for better or worse. Stats: ht 0-1, goals 76,90-13, poss 60%-40%, on target 6-3, off target 3-1, corners 10-5, o/s 0-2, fouls 12-7, yellows 2-2, reds 0-2, subs 3-3, shape 4312-442 . Weather: dry & sunny Team: 26 Sanchez Y, 3 White, 4 Webster, 5 Dunk R, 33 Burn, 16 Jahanbakhsh (10 Mac Allister 58), 13 Gross, 8 Bissouma Y, 11 Trossard (15 Moder 58), 9 Maupay R, 18 Welbeck (29 Zeqiri 78) . Bench: 23 Steele, 7 Connolly, 17 Alzate, 19 Izquierdo, 22 Tau, 24 Propper. Squad: 6 Karbownik . Injured: 2 Lamptey, 14 Lallana, 20 March, 34 Veltman . MoM: Sanchez. Prem: P35 . W3 D8 L6 .F18 A19 . W5 D5 L8 . F18 A22 . Pt37 Po15 = 1.05pt/gm. Wins = 22.8%, Loss = 40.0% Season9, 3rd Premier League (A) Sat 7/3/20 - 0-0. We'd reached completion of the three-quarters stage (Q3) of Albion's 3rd Prem season with a visit to Molineux. Brighton fans had been there on numerous occasions during these Falmer Years, especially through recent Championship campaigns but also for those three times when BHA played them in level2 out of Withdean. Fortunes of both clubs had risen since the noughties, perhaps more so for Wolves, who had enjoyed PL success plus European knockout phase football as well this term. Conversely Seagulls were in a bit of a flap at the moment, having failed to win since start of 2020 and struggling for points just above the drop zone. Away form was nothing to write home about and a point here would be regarded as an achievement like last term - see season8 below. In fact the situation today was very similar to previously, except Graham Potter was the man now tasked with managing the squad towards survival. All that pre-season big talk of being a future top ten Prem side had evaporated like puddles on a summer day since rain had well & truly set in this wet winter, both factually & metaphorically. Albion's history was full of trouble & strife anyway, so Brighton fans wanted to see the club fully justify all that effort they'd expounded just to get here from homeless days of yore at very end of the last century. Without assistance from that dedicated fanbase BHA might have remained a lower league outfit, merely dreaming of achieving elite status. Supporters needed to see the team prove capable of staying in the division or otherwise another big change in personnel was on the cards at end of this season. * * * match report: For the second year running this match ended goalless. Both sides huffed & puffed but couldn't break down resolute defences. Albion were good value for the rare clean sheet but failed to score once more from few chances created. Potter said of the point Seagulls retained, 'of course we hope it will be valuable at end of the season.' He introduced Alexis Mac Allister as a sub on debut, who proved capable in the minimum time allowed to show South American skills. Otherwise Dunk & Bissouma took plaudits in a fighting display to hold Wolves at bay. BHA had enough possession to thwart hosts attacking spells, although neither side was on song in final thirds. Potter had replicated Chris Hughton's defensive mantra, which at end of last term had just been good enough to ensure survival. Brighton fans trusted that regime would endure once more during the forthcoming run in. stats: shape 343-433, ht 0-0, goals nil, poss 43%-57%, on target 1-1, off target 7-4, blocks 3-2, o/s 0-0, crosses 13-18, corners 2-0, tackles 22-21, fouls 4-7, yellows 1-3, subs 2-3 . MoM - Bisouma . Gate - 31,490 . Weather - cloudy & windy. 1 Ryan, 22 Montoya Y, 15 Webster, 5 Dunk Y, 33 Burn Y, 8 Bissouma, 18 Mooy (6 Stephens 89), 24 Propper, 20 March (10 Mac Allister 80), 7 Maupay, 11 Trossard (16 Jahanbakhh 82) . Subs - 27 Button, 4 Duffy, 13 Gross,17 Murray. Squad - 2 Lamptey, 21 Schelotto, 25 Kayal, 30 Bernardo, 44 Connolly, 46 Alzate . Injured - 19 Izquierdo. Prem: P29 . W4 D6 L4 . F17 A15 . W2 D5 L8 . F15 A25 . Pt29 Po15 = 1.00pt/gm. Wins = 20.6%, Loss = 41.3% Season8 2nd Premier League (A) Sat 20/4/19 - 0-0. There were five fixtures left, 3 away & 2 at home. At this stage Albion were 17th and in a dogfight to stay alive in the div for next term. A bad run of form, five straight losses (including FA Cup) with no goals scored, had severely dented hopes of making the cut again. Home form had collapsed, which paired with poor results on the road made for bleak reading of seasonal stats to date. The 25 man squad didn't look up to the task, no matter who got chosen to play on any given day. Chris Hughton was pragmatic but realised there was a crisis that required to be fixed somehow. He said, 'we have no choice but to get on with it, roll our sleeves up and show the quality that we've got. We need to show the fighting spirit and togetherness we know we have.' Of course, once the team kicked off he could only watch and his words and influence kinda stayed in the technical area & dressing room. It was up to the selected match-day players to go get points or let everybody, at the club & also watching, down again. * * * match report: Albion got a point to break their duck and somehow prevented hosts scoring. Propper limped off after 10 minutes but Kayal played very well thereafter and was part of a backs to the wall team performance. Bruno lasted as long as he could prior to Bernardo relieving him to take up the sword with 20 mins to go. Ryan made a couple of saves and fortune favoured Seagulls when a brace of hosts efforts hit woodwork. Hughton said, 'we had to show a work ethic and determination. We are lacking confidence in front of goal and a bit of creativity. The reaction out there showed we are not such a bad team after all. It feels like a really good point for us.' Brighton fans congratulated green shirts at the end, pleased with the clean sheet and battling defensive display. The side had gone back to basics, using much of the old promotion team today. And they did ok too by any standards. So rot was effectively stopped at this juncture... with four games to go. Stats; shape 352-451, poss 68%-32%, on target 5-0, off target 13-4, blocks 4-1, crosses 38-8, o/s 0-1, corners 14-1, tackles 12-24, fouls 0-8, yellows 0-1, subs 3-2 . Gate 31,096, away 2748 . Weather - warm & sunny . MoM - Kayal. 1 Ryan, 2 Bruno (30 Bernardo 70), 4 Duffy, 5 Dunk, 3 Bong, 13 Gross, 6 Stephens Y, 24 Propper (7 Kayal 10), 20 March, 17 Murray, 19 Izquierdo. Subs - 27 Button, 33 Burn, 16 Jahanbakhsh, 9 Locadia, 10 Andone. Prem P34 . W6 D4 L7 F17 A23 . W3 D3 L11 F15 A30 . Pt34 Po17 = 1.00pt/gm. Wins = 26.4%, Loss = 52.9% Season7 (1st) - not Premier League. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Wolves away, Falmer years - C'ship 12/13, 14/15 - 16/17 . Seasons 2, 4-6. Wanderers v Albion (A) from 11/12: -, 3-3, -, 1-1, 0-0, 0-2 . W = 1 D = 3 L = 0 memorable match: Season6 (A) - onwards & upwards during a last C'ship visit to Molineux. Season6 Championship (A) 14/4/17 - w 0-2 ~ Knockaert 2. It was Good Friday and tv schedules set the kick-off for this run-in clash to 5pm. Albion hadn't been back to Molineux for over 18 months but of the side then that had got an app here, merely Zamora & Greer were no longer at Seagulls. The 15/16 squad had finished 3rd with 89pts, although beaten merely by goal difference. But now with five fixtures to complete, Albion were vastly superior on gd to play-off contenders and occupied first place by 2pts from title favourites Newcastle. A large group of 2.7k travelling support went up to the midlands to see if Albion could win after 3 draws there in previous Chapionship campaigns. In build up to the Easter fixtures people in the city of Brighton & Hove were asked to wear blue & white. On the day Seagulls wore home kit - as they were to for those four remaining matches. * match report: In the event Albion reached the same number of points as last term when registering a record 11th away victory. Visitors weathered hosts opening gambit and got into the game. At the psychological moment prior to the interval Seagulls took the lead. Stockwell booted up field and Knockaert collected before driving in low from outside the area (45min). Hughton replaced injured March with 20 minutes left, as well-supported travellers continued to counter attack locals threats. It was such a move involving Murphy & Murray that gave Knockaert his second goal from another low strike (82min). Norwood took to the field, as rain poured at Molineux, to help BHA see it out and get a first win there to boot. Hughton said, 'four points will do it. We would like to do it as quickly as possible but you have to keep level-headed because if you lose the next game then it all changes. The focus will be on trying to win on Easter Monday.' Brighton fans were hoping that would be the case and the team would go on and lift the championship title on or by the last fixture in early May. Stats; h-t 0-1, goals 45,82, poss 51%-49%, on target 4-2, off target 4-7, corners 6-3, o/s 0-2, fouls 13-10, yellows 1-0, subs 2-3 . att 23,221 Stockdale, Bruno, Huenemeier, Dunk, Pocognoli, Knockaert, Stephens, Sidwell, March (Murphy), Hemed (Norwood), Murray. Champ's P42 . W27 D8 L7 . F71 A35 . Pt89 Po1 . W = 64.2% L = 16.6% Season5 (A) 19/9/15 - 0-0. Albion's start to the season was breaking records. It seemed it was way back in the fifties that BHA last opened their campaign with such success. And Brighton fans were loving it, especially after much disappointment from last term (see below and compare points tally). Chris Hughton appeared to be working wonders, selecting from an almost fully fit squad that included many signings to help boost a once supposed mere top-ten finish. An unbeaten side went to Moilneux brimming with confidence, being five points clear at top of the table prior to kick-off. On a nice September afternoon, 20k turned up to see if there was going to be a shock on the cards. * match report: It was yet another draw with Wanderers and Albion failed once more to beat the West Midlands outfit on their turf. For the first time this term Brighton failed to find the net but not without trying very hard (see stats). Wolves goalie proved to be the hero with a man of the match performance, thwarting scoring chances again & again. With twenty mins gone, Murphy was upended in the area but Hemed's spot kick was blocked twice by the keeper. Hemed then cleared off the line ten minutes later to keep parity continuing. In the second period Wolves had a player sent straight off, only a few moments after resumption of play, for a foul on Rosenior. Seagulls maintained one-way traffic thereafter but couldn't break down the home defence. Hughton said, 'we could have done more in the final third. We needed that one moment. You have to give them credit but we made it too comfortable for their keeper. But after the disappointment we still have to realise we have done great so far this season.' And Brighton fans would drink to that amazing revelation as well. Stats; poss 44-56, on target 1-8, off target 4-4, blocked 1-7, corners 3-4, fouls 10-18, o/s 2-3, yellow 1-2, red 1-0. Stockdale, Bruno, Greer, Dunk, Bong, Rosenior, Stephens, Kayal, LuaLua (Zamora), Murphy, Hemed (Manu). Champ's P8 . W6 D2 L0 . F11 A5 . Pt20 Po1 . W = 75% L = 0% Season4 (A) 20/12/14 - 1-1 ~ Bent. It was the last Saturday before Christmas when hard core devoted made tracks to the west midlands instead of shopping in Churchill Square. Although the season of goodwill reached climax soon, a lot of Brighton fans were a tad disappointed by later stages of 2014. Instead of anticipating a play-off push during 2015, we were now faced with a relegation battle of titanic proportions. Albion had one win in seventeen and went up to Moly off the back of three straight defeats. The team had accepted collective responsibility for lack of points, backing Sami Hyypia as the man capable of saving the day. That pointed the finger of blame toward Tony Bloom and his sidekick David Burke for their disastrous turn-round of players in the summer. * match report: Bruno started in midfield for once but it was his sending off for a two-footer around the hour mark that was one factor in preventing Albion taking all three points in the black country. Seagulls were out of the blocks like they intended to fly free and took an early lead. Calderon was able to find space down the right and put his centre onto the head of ex-England striker Bent (10min) on loan from Villa. It was a crucial opener, albeit actual chances were still few & far between. By contrast Wolves had to put two subs on from beginning of the second period to get a grip on the game. And they were awarded a pen soon after when Stockdale collided with a gold-shirt - but lino flagged for a dive by the local hero, so Ref reversed his decision. Gardner (61m) and later Ince (74m), shored up defence for ten good men as visitors attempted to hold on and grind out a one-nil victory. Colunga got on with five minutes left but then Wanderers snatched a point following a corner two mins from time (88min). Stockdale made some excellent saves, especially when pressure became intense at end of each half. On stats alone, Albion were still way short of looking like winners but it's goals that count and with a little more luck and 11 men, might just have keep it clean until the final whistle from a battling display. As a consequence, Sami Hyypia resigned as manager early in the following week - just before Christmas. Stockdale, Calderon, Halford, Dunk, J Bennett, Bruno, Forster-Caskey, Holla, March (Gardner), Bent (Colunga), Teixeira (Ince). Champ's P22 . W3 D10 L9 . F22 A30 . Pt19 Po22 . W = 13.6% L = 40.9% Season3 - not C'ship. Season2 (A) 10/11/12 - 3-3 ~ CMS, Buckley, Dobbie. It had been a few years since Albion last visited Molineux. We were first a Championship club during the early to mid noughties, while Wolves had plenty of Prem history on their resume. The wheel of fortune had brought us together again and our future looked promising now that we'd finally got the Amex and were managed by Gus Poyet. He assembled a better second season squad for BHA, although results to date were mixed. The problem was Seagulls looked ok in flight but lacked bite when zeroing in on target. Also we lacked a goal-scoring midfielder and Spanish ace Vicente hadn't gotten over injury or played any sort of game since last term. On the positive side we didn't concede many but an average of 1.5pt/gm wasn't gonna get us into play-offs come next May. * match report: In the event this fixture ended with six goals scored and a point apiece in bizarre circumstances. Wanderers opened both their account and our defence to take the lead a tad easily (22min). Calderon replaced injured Bridge fifteen minutes later. Just before halftime CMS struck the equaliser in superb fashion (43m). Then WW had a bloke sent off for excessive foul play on Bridcutt. After the interval Brighton pressed for a winner but ten men hit back and fired one past Kuszczak from distance (61m). Barnes and Buckley subbed immediately and Will pulled us level again after a decent forward move (72m). BHA went for the winner but were only ahead on stats. At the death Ref gave us a dodgy pen, duly dispatched by Dobbie after he ran to grab the ball (89m). In stoppage Wolves got a point when netting with a soft header from a f-k (90+). Poyet was furious with the result and said, 'It is not good enough. you need to do the basics and we didn't do it.' Kuszczak, Bruno, Greer, Dunk, Bridge (Calderon), Crofts (Buckley), Bridcutt, Orlandi, Lopez (Barnes), Mackail-Smith, Dobbie. Champ's P16 . W6 D6 L4 . F22 A14 . Pt24 Po8 . W = 37.5% L = 25% Season1 - not C'ship. * * * * * Withdean Era: 12 seasons from 1999 to 2011. Seasons 4 02/3, 6 04/5, 7 05/6 - Champonship. Withdean era: Wolves v Albion 1-1, 1-1, 1-0 . . . W = 0 D = 2 L = 1 memorable match: Season6 (A) - Brighton fans liked the place, it was where we could dream of better times to come. Noughties last there - 22/4/06 (A) Championship. Our last trip to Molineux of three this decade, all at C'ship standard. see: Seasons 4, 6, 7 for club & stadium info. Also Bobby Zamora, Gary Hart & Paul McShane.
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