Seagulls Fly Past Rovers To Remain Atop The Division

Brighton & Hove Albion earned a victory away to Bristol Rovers that allowed them to open up a three point gap a the top of the League 1 table.

They went down to an early strike from Will Hoskins before Ashley Barnes drew them level before half time. Elliot Bennett gave the visitors the lead before a disasterous rebound lead to an own goal for Albion's third and Glenn Murray made it four with his head. Hoskins doubled his personal tally to make it 2-4 but after Brighton got going in the second half it was never in doubt.

Rovers made three changes to their starting line up, Danny Coles and Chris Lines returning from suspension and Gavin Williams making his first start for the club. Chris Wood was the only new player for Brighton, coming in for Matt Sparrow.

If Brighton survived for two minutes then they would have lasted five hours of game time without conceding and they only just managed this. Into the third minute Will Hoskins picked up the ball, pushed forward and drove the ball into the underside of the crossbar and over the line. He was clearly delighted with the unstoppable strike and the emotion gushed out of him as he celebrated in front of the jubilant Gasheads.

After the electric start Rovers began to sit back and allow Brighton to play, a tactic that was always going to be tough against the league leaders and Albion got into the Rovers third on a far too regular basis and a couple of goal mouth scrambles left the home fans hearts in their mouths. Rovers did break on occasion but never really troubled Casper Ankergren in the Brighton goal.

Ashley Barnes was the man to equalise for Brighton, JP Kalala failing to control the ball in his own half and gave away to possession, allowing Chris Wood to put the ball into the box and Barnes thumped the ball into the net to make it 1-1, no less than his side deserved.

Into the second half the visitors got to the Rovers byline and some neat passes in the area lead to the ball falling at the feet of Elliot Bennett who was able to slot the ball neatly past Luke Daniels.

Despite Brighton turning up the heat Rovers were able to threaten and nearly to allowed them to draw level as first Will Hoskins had a tap in ruled out for offside. Then the spectator's saw new Rovers signing Gavin Williams shooting from the 'D', only to see his shot thump the left hand post and bounce agonislingly across the face of goal, eventually spinning out for a goal kick.

Casper Ankergren and Glenn Murray both went into the referee's notebook, the Danish goalkeeper for time wasting and Murray for punching the ball into the goal. Referee Pat Miller was on top of this, however, denying what would have been an audacious goal and showing the striker a yellow card to boot.

It wasn't to be for the home side, though, and Brighton doubled their lead when Ashley Barnes beat the Rovers offside trap, only to see his shot saved by the outrushing Daniels. Unfortuneatley for Rovers the ball cannoned off of Cian Bolger's knee and over the line to make for a frustrating Brighton third, and it got worse six minutes later.

Substitute Craig Noone, a January signing from Plymouth Argyle, was allowed too much time and space by right back Byron Anthony and he curled a ball towards the back post that Murray was able to nod into the net.

There was a consolation for Rovers that gave the scoreline a slightly better look as top scorer Will Hoskins beat two Brighton defenders in the penalty area and lashed the ball into the back of the net with four minutes to go. Despite that and the five additional minutes the Pirates were unable to get another and set up a tense finale.

After the match Brighton manager Gus Poyet was impressed by the way his side overcame their early adversity, saying:

"Sometimes we try to convince the players that they are better than the opposition and they need to prove it on the pitch. They scored a magnificent goal and it wasn't easy to come back.

"They started to play differently. We had to take the game in our own hands and it took a while to score.

"The only enemies we have in this league are ourselves. If we keep the pace and the quantity of points per game we'll be up in there."

Despite defeat Dave Penney was nonetheless impressed with his side's handling of a new look formation, telling the media:

"We played a very good side today. We came out of the blocks well, we changed the system a bit to match them up and free up Will Hoskins and Gavin Williams, and the work ethic was first class.

"I think it was probably the best performance since I have been here over 90 minutes, against the best team we have played.

"We are disappointed with the goals we conceded, which were basic errors again."

As a result of the final score Brighton remain top of the league for the twentieth game in succession, Rovers meanwhile dropped a place to 23rd, a position they haven't been in since the first game of the season. A last minute equaliser for Leyton Orient away at Bournemouth meant that the Seagulls lead at the top of the table was extended to three points.

Ignore The Omens, Lads - Brighton Preview

Bristol Rovers will hope to turn around a bad week this Saturday, but coming up against the league leaders will not make that an easy task. Brighton have lead the division since the eighth round of games and have never looked back. At the moment they sit just a single point clear at the top of the table, though they do have two games in hand over second placed Bournemouth, but nevertheless the Gas will be hoping to help knock Brighton down from their lofty position.

There has been little news on the Rovers front since the midweek loss to MK Dons, although there was something going on the behind the scenes on Friday, Chris Lines revealing via Twitter that youth team coach Jerry Gill has been removed from his post at the club, a tweet that was deleted later that day. The announcement will come as a surprise to many Rovers fans as Gill was having a successful season in charge of the youth team, though it seems that the appointments of Dave Penney and Martin Foyle, as well as Paul Trollope remaining on the club payroll during his 'gardening leave', have taken their toll on the clubs wage bill, ultimately resulting in the release of the former Birmingham City full back. Since then the club have officially announced the departure of Gill having conducted 'a thorough review of the management and coaching structure at the football club', leaving Darren Patterson to return to his previous role in charge of the youth team.

For Brighton there has been just a single transfer in and a single transfer out. It was right at the start of the month that manager Gus Poyet captured Plymouth winger Craig Noone who has since gone on to score one goal for the club, the second in a 2-0 win over Colcehster. Noone had scored four goals for Argyle before his £300,000 swap to the Withdean, catching the eye on a number of occasions. There were rumours of winger Elliot Bennett wanting out from Albion, Norwich reportedly showing interest, however nothing came of this, despite the 22 year old handing in a transfer request.

Rovers have won only one of their last sixteen league fixtures, that coming in the shape of the 3-1 win over Swindon Town towards the end of January, and their home form has quite rightly left them in the mire, having won only four games at the Memorial Stadium, less than a third of the matches played there, scoring only 15 goals in the process. Rovers have only managed to keep two clean sheets at home this season, both games finishing in stalemates.

Brighton's form has been almost impeccable this season, they remain unbeaten at home and only Charlton have lost less away games. That being said three of their four defeats on the road have come in their last six with only one win in that sequence. Don't let that fool you though they are on decent form overall and have not lost against any of the sides currently in the bottom half of the table. They have also dumped two Championship sides out of the FA Cup, namely Portsmouth and high flying Watford, and have failed to score in only one game since the turn of the year, couple that with the fact they have only let in ten goals on the road this season you can expect Rovers to have to score at least once to gain a point on Saturday, not to mention that if they survive for two minutes at the Mem then they will have gone five hours without conceding.

Superstitious Rovers fans will not look kindly upon the next fact that I am about to reveal. In each of the last three seasons the sides have been in the same division the first match played has resulted in a draw while the second has seen the Seagulls come out on top. The first meeting this season resulted in a battling 2-2 draw, Marcos Painter scoring a late own goal to give Rovers a point, one of only four sides to take something from the Withdean. In that regard it looks ominous for Rovers and you certainly wouldn't bet against a win for the visitors. That's the last seven games in this head-to-head that Brighton have gone unbeaten, the last Rovers win coming in August 2004, Lee Thorpe and Richard Walker scoring to give Rovers a Carling Cup win over the then Championship side. Peter Beadle scored the winner the last time Rovers beat Albion in the league, that result being as far back as April 1996.

The only link between the two squads is James Tunnicliffe, currently on loan at Rovers from Brighton, but due to the Sussex side being his parent club the big central defender will not be allowed to take part in the upcoming tussle.

This Saturday's referee will be Pat Miller. The Bedfordshire official has been in charge of 20 games this season, handing out 72 yellow cards and 6 reds, including 8 bookings in a League 2 fixture between Barnet and Stevenage and 7 yellows and a red in a Championship game between Reading and Barnsley.


Rovers will be able to once again call upon Danny Coles and Chris Lines after the pair served the final game of their suspensions against MK Dons in the week.

Stuart Campbell and Dave McCracken are major doubts after both were removed from the midweek game with hamstring injuries.

Bulgarian midfielder Radostin Kishishev could make a return to the Brighton squad after recovering from a back injury.

Defender Jim McNulty is out for the rest of the season after having an ankle operation while midfielders Jamie Smith and Alan Navarro will also be unavailable with a broken metatarsal and a ruptured cruciate ligament respectively.

Dave Penney knows that he is running out of time and that his team need to start earning points soon, saying:

"What we need to do is get some consistency, the goals we're conceding are poor.

"There's nobody firing them in from 25-30 yards into the top corner, you can criticise any goal but the ones we're conceding are poor from our point of view.

"Every game you don't get points in is a worry, the games are ticking by and we need to pick points up quickly if we're to get out of this position."

Brighton assistant manager Mauricio Taricco came out and spoke to the Brighton media, commenting that despite the massive gulf between the sides in the table, anything can happen in League 1:

"Bristol are having a tough time at the moment but that doesn't mean anything in this league. They are going to be at home and from their point of view they need to win more than us, and that will make it tough.

"We also want to win because out target is to win the league and get promoted but at the same time they need a win to survive in this league. At the moment they are in a very difficult situation so that's going to make it a difficult game for us.

"It remains up to us though, so we have got to be ready for Saturday and we must play better than we did on Tuesday night if we are to win the game."

Tough At The Top - Brighton Preview

Bristol Rovers go into this weekends game against Brighton with a defensive crisis on their hands, Carl Regan being suspended for three games and James Tunnicliffe unable to play against his parent club. With Brighton's Falmer Stadium project coming along well this is also likely to be Rovers last ever visit to the Withdean Stadium.

Paul Trollope will be hoping for a change in fortune following the appalling performance his side put in against Leyton Orient last Saturday, losing 3-0 and having Regan sent off in the process. It was in stark difference to the exhilarating 6-3 victory away at Wycombe in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy just five days earlier where travelling gasheads would dare to dream about free flowing attacking football. That wasn't to last, however, as Rovers returned to their usual ways at the weekend.

The upcoming game will be far more difficult than the Orient test should have been, Brighton topping the table by six points from second place Charlton, whom Rovers must face on Tuesday. That being said, Brighton lost their last league game, a 3-1 reverse away to Hartlepool, and were also taken to extra time and penalties by Conference South side Woking, Peter Brezovan saving Elvis Hammonds penalty, allowing Cristian Baz to score the winning penalty for the Seagulls. Speaking in league only terms Brighton have lost only that game to Hartlepool in their last eight, winning their four previous games and scoring twelve times in the process including a three goal win at Peterborough and a four goal win at Charlton. Their home form has also been solid, in their last five at home Brighton have only failed to win one game, a 1-1 draw with Bournemouth thanks to a debatable injury time penalty, converted by Marc Pugh.

Rovers have failed to win in their last three away league games, losing two and only just managing a point at Hartlepool after two goals in the last five minutes salvaging the draw. Since then the Gas have played two more games on the road in the cup, disastrously losing at Darlington in the FA Cup before that aforementioned win at Wycombe.

There has been a summer of change at Albion with eleven players coming in, ten of them permanently, and thirteen players leaving the club in some form. Only two of those players coming in were paid for, they were Ashley Barnes, signing from Plymouth for an undisclosed fee, and centre back Gordon Greer for whom Brighton paid £250,000 to Swindon for, and both should be in the starting line up for Saturday. Barnes is the clubs top scorer this season with seven goals thus far, all of which have come in the league. It is his second spell with the club, having spent time on loan at the Withdean at the end of last season, scoring four goals in eight games for the Seagulls before he made his move from Plymouth permanent. But one of Brighton's most influential players will not be playing. Kazenga LuaLua, on loan from Newcastle United, was left with a broken ankle following a bad challenge in the Hartlepool loss. The side will miss his electric pace and the threat on goal from both himself and the potential to create for team mates that comes with it. Gus Poyet stated in an interview earlier this week that he was going to move quickly to bring in a replacement on loan for the winger in order to cover for him during his absence.

Brighton is Gus Poyet's first job as a manager but he does have previous in the coaching game. Poyet's coaching career started at Swindon Town where he was employed as player/assistant coach under his former Chesea team mate Dennis Wise before the pair moved on to Elland Road where they kept the same set up. In October 2007 Poyet moved on again to become assistant to Juande Ramos at Premier League Tottenham before he left the club alongside Ramos after Spurs poor start to the 2008/09 season. Nearly a year later Poyet was handed the opportunity to take over at Brighton where he lead the club away from the foot of the table to a respectable 13th place finish.

Since returning to League 1 in 2007 Rovers are yet to beat Brighton having drawn three and lost three of the six fixtures between the two sides. The last time Rovers recorded a victory against the Seagulls was in the 2004/05 season. That was a first round League Cup fixture at the Withdean where Rovers initially went behind to a Guy Butters goal but before half time they were ahead thanks to strikes from Lee Thorpe and Richard Walker. Prior to that fixture Rovers and Brighton had not faced each other for eight seasons and that was also the last time Rovers won a league match, Peter Beadle getting the goal that day.

Will Hoskins is still missing for Rovers but his rehabilitation is moving along quicker than expected and could be back in full training in a weeks time. Charlie Reece is still out having suffered back spasms prior to the Wycombe game. John Akinde may be available for the game, with Paul Trollope hoping he is able to train on Friday morning. Carl Regan will be serving the first game of his three match suspension while fellow defender James Tunnicliffe will not be allowed to play against his parent club Brighton. The substitute bench will have a youthful look to it as Lamar Powell, a player who has just signed his first professional deal with Rovers, will be sat on it as well as midfielders Darren Jeffries and Ollie Clarke, and, possibly, for the first time youth team striker Robbi Maggs, depending on the fitness of John Akinde.

Brighton will be without Kazenga LuaLua due to his broken ankle, as was mentioned earlier. The Seagulls will also be missing Alan Navarro who is a long term absentee as he recovers from a ruptured cruciate ligament while former Chelsea youngster Liam Bridcutt who is suspended. Assistant manager Mauricio Taricco will also be suspended after receiving two bookings in the FA Cup replay with Woking when making his first professional appearance for six years. One player who may potentially feature is Chris Woods, who has just signed on loan for Albion. His is a name familiar to Rovers fans as he was touted by many media outlets as a loan signing for Rovers, although no deal ever went through.

Gas gaffer Paul Trollope knows how tough a test Brighton will be and what his team must do to counteract them. He told bristolrovers.co.uk:

"Up to a month ago, even at the top it was very tight, but they have got a little bit of a lead now.

"They invested heavily in the summer, and got some quality players. We know it is going to be a tough test.

"We are going to approach it as we approached Huddersfield away. We went there and put in a disciplined performance, pass the ball well at times and scored a late goal to win it.

"We cannot go there with any fear, we have to go in there believing, despite last week's disappointment, that we are capable on our day."

After facing Rovers Brighton will travel to St Mary's where they will face an in form Southampton and manager Gus Poyet believes a good result against the Gas will get his side in the mood for the Saints trip, as he spoke to seagulls.co.uk:

"The players who are going to be involved on Saturday have been involved all season and have been doing very well, so there is no drama and everything is okay.

"It's a very important game, and maybe people don't quite realise how important it is to beat Bristol, so we are also ready for Southampton a few days later."

Rovers will have the advantage of not having played in midweek, where Albion were taken to extra time so Paul Trollope will be hooping for some tired legs in the Brighton camp, but it will be a stern test for the Gas and one that they will ultimately not be expected to get anything out of.