Football League Championship⦠Round Five Brighton and Hove Albion v Charlton Athletic Saturday 30th August 2014 3pm Kick-Off Referee: Keith Hill (Hertfordshire) As mentioned in the Match Preview against Huddersfield, the Addicks were preparing for the first of three away matches on the trot, now after collecting a point in the League fixture and after failing to reach the 3rd Round of the League Cup, Charlton will turn their attention to the last of the three successive away trips with a short journey to the seaside where theyâll face beaten PlayOff Semi-Finalists from last season: Brighton and Hove Albion, of course with both sides sharing a mutual dislike of a certain team from Surrey thisâll also be a match to see just who hates Crystal Palace more⦠Brighton managed by Spaniard: Oscar Garcia once again had a strong season last time out⦠As mentioned already they were once again beaten in the PlayOffs (and once again in the Semi-Finals) for the second successive season (With Derby County being the eventual winners between the two), following defeat, Brighton fans would find themselves without a manager (following the resignation of Garcia) and up would step Liverpool Legend: Sami Hyypia who only one year ago was preparing for a Champions League campaign with German side: Bayer Leverkusen⦠Fast forward to the present though and Brighton have had an average start to their season⦠two defeats (against Sheffield Wednesday and Birmingham City) at the start of the season followed by two wins (Leeds United and Bolton Wanderers) have them sitting in 13th place. We all know about Charltonâs start though and once again the Addicks (along with Nottingham Forest and Sheffield Wednesday) would remain undefeated in League football after the previous round of Championship fixtures⦠Charlton though donât do things the easy way and despite Huddersfield being down to 10-men last week, the Addicks would fall behind early in the 2nd half thanks to a Nakhi Wells tap-in⦠and thatâs the way it stayed, right up until injury-time when an Andre Bikey flick on was met by Igor Vetokele who grabbed his third goal of the season and rescuing a point for the travelling side. The Ex-Addick With the Brighton fixture looming there are certainly a number of links between these two sides with the likes of Thierry Racon, Nathan Jones and Garry Nelson having played in both Charlton red and Brighton Blue⦠Of the current crop Dale Stephens remains injured for Brighton and is unlikely to make an appearance against his former club. Yet on to the link between the two sides and this weekend belongs to transfer that would epitomise the Alan Curbishley era⦠John Robinson; signed for just £75,000 in 1992 (and one of Curbishleyâs earliest buys) he was seen as a replacement for Robert Lee who was joining Newcastle United⦠After a slow start at the club, Robinson would go on to make over 300-appearances for the club scoring 35-goals; he would be involved in the epic PlayOff Final against Sunderland (taking the corner that would lead to Richard Rufus making it 3-3 with just minutes to play) and would go on to be part of the team that would bounce straight back into the Premier League winning the First Division for the first time in the clubâs history. His time at Charlton would come to an end in 2003 where he would leave on a Free Transfer at the end of his contract joining Cardiff City, injuries would hinder him for the rest of his career though and after spending just one year in Wales heâd soon retire in 2005 with spells at Gillingham, Crawley Town and Lewes. Head2Head As per usual, Brighton have the most wins in this fixture with 23 wins compared to 21 wins for the Addicks (11 matches have ended all square)⦠The biggest win for either side came in October 1983 (days before A4L would entered this world) with Brighton winning 7-0⦠the last win at Brighton for Charlton would be five years ago with a 2-0 win in December 1999. Charlton Team News With Bob Peeters confirming in yesterdays press conference that no new players would join before Saturday it remains up to the existing side to bring all three points home again, Stephen Henderson has started training once again so may challenge Nick Pope for the Number One jersey whilst those being rested for the League Cup tie on Tuesday night should now return to the side after being rested. Possible Side to face Brighton and Hove Albion Pope Solly â Ben-Haim â Bikey â Wiggins Gudmundsson â Buyens â Jackson â Cousins Tucudean â Vetokele Substitutes Bench Phillips â Fox â Gomez â Moussa â Harriott â Church â Wilson A4Lâs Prediction: 2-0 (Vetokele, Tucudean)
Anybody else heading down for this one? Definitely one I mark on the calendar and is always good value for a night out after. Quietly confident about this one, but think I've predicted score draws in my last 3 so might have to hop off the fence and say 0-1 charlton with Gudmundson netting. Team wise, I'd be tempted to start Moussa, but think Tucuden will get the nod. I don't see things changing until we suffer a convincing defeat though soave you right.
I've made a late decision to go (so once ago no updates) as I'm unexpectedly free tomorrow. Brighton seem to be picking up after a dodgy start, so I don't expect us to get anything from this. 2-0 Brighton.
New job captain? You're doing well with attendances! Baldock to start apparently, so we know he will score! I change my prediction to 1-2 charlton. Add a goal from Bikey!
Just making the most of not being at uni by going to as many games as possible. Anyway, my student loan's got it all covered...
Good for you mate! Make use of it. I don't know if you/anyone finds but on away days it's hard/boring to sit in on Friday nights whilst you wait in anticipation.
Great Work again, A4L. I wonder if Bob will be tempted to tinker with the line-up? Cousins on the left is just wrong. The options are The Harriotts or Moussa, or Gudmundsson with Wilson on the right. The Harriotts finished last season on a high with 5 goals in the last 2 playing in a free role, but Harriott and Ventekole up front is too lightweight, especially defending set-pieces, so unless Moussa is fit Cousins will probably stay there.I fear our unbeaten league record will go, maybe 2-1.
Looking forward to this one. I was told by the Club on Thursday that we have sold 2,200, so it should be a great day out. Looking forward to giving Pope a particularly big cheer when he runs out at out end. We had a few Herbert's in our end last season at the Amex.... so it should be lively today. Bring it on !
0-1 at HT. Brighton with all the possession, shots and corners, but few real scares. Our defending is great. Tucudean sounds a passenger though, not defending from the front. Bob obviously agrees. Church on for Tucudean. He won't give their defence so much time to set up attacks. Funny we used to criticise Sir Chris for defending a lead around the edge of our penalty area. This is what we have been doing all match. But Ben Haim and Bikey are great at that sort of thing, where the play is compressed and they dont have to run. All we need is Morrison on as a third CB and it will be just like the good old days.
60 mins: Wilson on for Cousins because most of Brighton's attacks have come down their left, so Wilson on to support Solly. So who will now support Wiggins? I suppose Jackson.