Tag Archives: Brighton & Hove Albion

12th February 2022- Premier League, Watford 0 Brighton & Hove Albion 2

Attendance: 20,795

BBC Sport: Roy Hodgson says his Watford side “will need a lot of mental strength” to secure Premier League survival this season after Brighton inflicted further misery on the relegation-threatened Hornets at Vicarage Road.

Sky Sports: Watford only managed their first shot on target in the 88th minute and are deep in the relegation mire. They remain in 19th with Burnley and Newcastle yet to play this weekend.

The Guardian: A match that started with the stands reverberating to cheers as Roy Hodgson was introduced as Watford’s latest manager ended with a sixth successive home defeat and to the sound of away fans singing about him getting sacked in the morning.

BHappy: A miserable first half saw us obstruct Brighton up to a point…. Samir impressed in the backline, doggedly getting a foot in, revelling in challenges. But we didn’t obstruct enough to prevent those chances… Moder forced a good save from Foster, then put in a cross for Gross to head wide unchallenged; Maupay shot from long range in too much space, Foster saved comfortably; Dunk headed over unchallenged from a deep corner. Whether Maupay’s looping shot was quite what he intended or otherwise we had allowed Brighton enough bites not to be able to complain when they got lucky. This wasn’t Bowen at West Ham.

Fran’s Watford Blog: The match had been designated as Trust Awareness Day and the half time guest on the pitch was Ann Swanson, who has agreed to be a Patron of the newly re-launched Junior Hornets. For those who were fans of the Hornets in the 80s, even those who were too old for the Junior Hornets at that point, Ann is remembered as a Watford legend. She was the driving force behind the organisation of the Family Enclosure and Family Terrace as well as the Junior Hornets trips to away games. At that time, there was a lot of violence attached to football and many people avoided going to games for that reason. Ann, in collaboration with GT, made Vicarage Road a safe place to visit and encouraged families to attend. Many of the young fans that attended games in those days still remember her with great fondness and they are now bringing their own children to games. Ann said that she will be travelling to Southampton with a group of Junior Hornets, just like old times. At the end of the interview with Tim, he told her (and us) that the Family Stand would now be known as the Ann Swanson Family Stand. She was visibly moved and quite emotional about it, as was I. I don’t think that there was a dry eye in the place.

21st August 2021- Premier League, Brighton & Hove Albion 2 Watford 0

Of course we didn’t know it at the time but this was Troy Deeney’s last appearance for Watford.

Attendance: 29.405

BBC Sport: The Hornets set the tone for a sloppy performance from the start, managing just two touches from kick-off before giving the ball away, and they produced only one shot on target in the entire game.

Sky Sports: Ismaila Sarr – so impressive in Watford’s win over Aston Villa – flashed a strike from 20 yards over the crossbar but it was a rare moment of worry for the Brighton defence with their play in the final third creating ample opportunities in and around the box.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/58193436

BHappy: We play a major role in our own downfall, contributing to both goals; nonetheless, we’ve got away with 2-0 at the interval. The first comes from Shane Duffy, an old-school centre half who feels like he’s been on borrowed time since Albion were promoted, a championship-style defender in a Premier League side. However many years on and despite a year out last year he’s still borrowing time, demonstrating that a bit of brutality has a place and a role in a three-man defence flanked by the ability of Webster and Dunk. All the more so when he rises virtually unopposed to head a popular opener in off the underside of the bar from a left wing corner. Dad, watching on TV, reports a healthy hand of Emmanuel Dennis’ shirt on the part of the Irish centre-back to which my response would be, why wasn’t Dennis kneeing him in the balls to hamper his ascent? That’s going to happen. Perhaps less so if it’s a big brute of a Chilean centre-back up against Duffy; easy to be smart after the event, but this is an opponent, given Brighton’s threat at set pieces, that had Sierralta’s name all over it.

From the Rookery End: An optimistic pre-game drive soon turned into a post match post mortem, with Mike and Jon joined by Jacob Culshaw as they dissected a disjointed Watford display.

8th February 2020- Premier League, Brighton & Hove Albion 1 Watford 1

Referee: Kevin Friend
Attendance: 30,443

1-0

Match Report: Brighton 1-1 Watford

Watford face Brighton and Hove Albion in the Premier League

Watford lose lead in Brighton & Hove Albion draw

Nigel Pearson reflects on Watford’s draw at Brighton & Hove Albion

Watford players rated following draw with Brighton and Hove Albion

Ben Foster said Watford did not want to sit back in Brighton and Hove Albion draw

Watford boss Nigel Pearson admitted his side had “missed an opportunity” to get a vital victory and move out of the relegation zone as Adrian Mariappa’s own goal gifted Brighton a draw.

Neither side went into the game in good form, but Watford struck first with a fine solo goal from Abdoulaye Doucoure (19), putting some demons to rest after also scoring an own goal in the 3-0 loss to Brighton on the opening weekend.

Not many own goals this season will be dispatched with the utter certainty that Adrian Mariappa directed the ball into his net as time ticked down at the Amex Stadium and it looked like another bad evening for Brighton and Hove Albion.

Minute by minute

“It’s unfortunate”, said Pearson. “We’ve worked exceptionally hard today and goals like that are very difficult to deal with. But I try to stress the importance of not becoming overly positive when things are going well or too pessimistic if things go negatively. You have a better chance of surviving if you keep your nerve.”

The game settles into a pattern from which it’ll never escape, of Brighton having great acres of possession and not really knowing how to harvest it, of Watford suffocating it all by sitting deep and gradually pushing each attack backwards, guiding a toddler out of a toy shop. It has the dramatic intensity of someone prodding a damp sponge with an old toothbrush.

It had been an awful game of football and, yet again, we had been the architects of our own downfall. There was one moment of quality in the game, which was the gorgeous goal from Doucouré. Although the late effort from Mooy and the save from Foster deserve a special mention. Other than that, it was really turgid with Watford sitting deep against an ineffective Brighton attack. It really hurt that we had lost two points due to a pointless own goal, especially as I am very fond of Mariappa, but I don’t know what he was thinking when he blasted that ball into the net. At the end of the day, we remain in the bottom three and, while we are not yet adrift, it is hard to see where the next points are coming from

It’s a South Coast Roller Coaster at Brighton as a late Adrian Mariappa own goal denies Watford a vital win at the Amex Stadium. Jon is joined by Kieran and Colin as they run the rule over another game that saw the Hornets fail to capitalise on taking the lead.

10th August 2019- Premier League, Watford 0 Brighton & Hove Albion 3

Referee: Craig Pawson
Attendance: 20,245

Watford 0 – 3 Brighton and Hove Albion

Match-Report_-Watford-0-3-Brighton-Hove-Albion-Watford-FC Download

Watford beaten comfortably by Brighton and Hove Albion on the opening day of the 2019/20 season

Poor Watford slump to Brighton & Hove Albion defeat

No excuses from Javi Gracia following Watford’s defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion

Watford players rated after sloppy defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion

A selection of images from Watford’s defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion

Craig Cathcart labels Watford’s defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion as a wake up call

New Brighton manager Graham Potter said his side’s winning start to the Premier League season was a “dream” as the Seagulls put three past a stunned Watford.

Watford – well below their usual standards – had no answers as Potter’s second-half substitutes Florin Andone (65) and new signing Neal Maupay (77) netted in what was a very comfortable opening day success.

If Brighton were not flawless, then Watford barely got anything right. They could not blame the swirling winds, which if anything should have played greater havoc with Brighton’s possession-based approach. After a brisk start they became maddeningly imprecise and it was no shock when they fell behind.

Watford manager Javi Gracia said: “Maybe it was a good wake-up call for the rest of the season because we have time to improve. We are disappointed today but I prefer to wait and trust that we can do better in the second game. We have time to analyse and improve. They played much better than us. And when we realised we had to play better, it was too late.”

The ground, as is becoming traditional, looks ever smarter after a summer’s work – seats in the Rookery/SEJ corner now, and big screens mounted high on the roof of the stand at each end of the pitch. New signings Sarr and “England international” Welbeck are presented to the crowd and hysterically received, the former making his way slowly across the pitch without breaking his applause to the stands. There are new montages on the screens, and then Z-Cars chimes in back in it’s traditional place and the cheer as the teams enter is peppered with grins and high fives and a particularly guttural roar. Fair play to the club for being honest and brave enough to reverse a bad decision.

The final whistle went to boos from the Watford faithful and, while the Brighton players spent some time celebrating with their fans, the Watford players disappeared pretty quickly. But, fair play to Deeney, he did his usual lap of the pitch to applaud the fans in each stand and, despite the anger and disappointment in the crowd, he was warmly applauded for it.

Not the start of the season we dreamt of, especially after an exciting week in the transfer window. Jon, Jason and Colin start the podcast to discuss the recent transfer business, Jon shares what his Thursday was like then Jon and Jason try to figure out where the Brighton game went wrong. Finally, Mike pops by to discuss the clubs scheme to Keep the Vic Full and head to the Z-Cars Derby and seeing the snake again.

2nd February 2019- Premier League, Brighton & Hove Albion 0 Watford 0

Referee:
Simon Hooper
Attendance:
30,414

Match Report: Brighton & Hove Albion 0-0 Watford

Foster: “We’ll Be Happier With The Point”

Gracia: “We Didn’t Find A Way To Attack”

Highlights: Brighton & Hove Albion 0-0 Watford

Cleverley: “He’s Won Us A Point”

Affleck’s Angle: Phenomenal Foster

Gallery: Brighton & Hove Albion v Watford

Watford unable to get back to winning ways after 0-0 draw with Brighton and Hove Albion

Ben Foster stars again as Watford pick up Brighton & Hove Albion point

A selection of images from Watford’s draw at Brighton & Hove Albion

Watford goalkeeper Ben Foster thinks he could play for a few more seasons

Watford manager Javi Gracia said goalkeeper Ben Foster produced a “special performance” after preventing Brighton from claiming their first league win of 2019.

Watford defended stoutly but lacked imagination in attack, and failed to register a single shot on target across the 90 minutes.

This will not live long in the memory. Except perhaps for Ben Foster, the man who has made more saves than anyone else in Premier League history.

It was Brighton who were almost celebrating a winner 10 minutes from time. Gross’s inviting cross from the left was met by a flicked header from Locadia but Foster somehow leapt to turn it behind. He followed up that save by unconventionally keeping out Duffy’s acrobatic attempt with his feet and then smothered an effort from the onrushing Andone. Yves Bissouma was also narrowly off-target in the dying moments.

Much as you want to win, there’s always something thrilling about being in someone else’s ground when a game that’s in the balance suddenly tips and the noise starts echoing around the stands. Sets the adrenaline going, makes eventual victory all the more vivid. The noise at the Amex still seems to carry with it something of what this club nearly became, of building bonfires and Hereford and all of that. It’s still there, the knowledge that none of this might’ve existed. The pre-match build-up offers somewhat one-sidedly edited highlights of previous meetings, and the big screen malfunctions to obscure half of the picture, which seems a fitting reminder of the sightlines from both the away corner at the Goldstone and the temporary seating at Withdean. It’s thirty years since I was a student here; more than twenty since Fans United. This is a brilliant ground for a proud city. We should all count our blessings more often.

The most entertaining moment of the first half came on the half hour as Holebas battled with March on the wing and ended up giving away the first corner of the game. In typical Jose manner he then walked towards the goal to defend the set piece, looking furious as only he can. He was looking for someone or something to blame, and suddenly focussed on his gloves which were ripped from his hands and thrown behind the goal line. I realise that this loses a lot in translation, but it caused great amusement to the Holebas fans in our party.

The second half was pretty much exactly like the first. Hardly anything happened and the only efforts on target came from the hosts.

https://audioboom.com/posts/7164331-missing-our-zing-9-35