Charlton Athletic v Brighton and Hove Albion Thursday 26th December 2013 12:30pm Kick-Off Referee: Mick Russell So this seasons traditional Boxing Day fixture pits Charlton against Sussex side Brighton and Hove Albion, one plus side of this fixture is that Andy DâUrso wonât be officiating this match so chances of the game being called off have slightly been reduced (after the fiasco against Southampton a few years ago). Brighton were unfortunate last season it must be said, after an impressive finish in the Play-Offs they lost out to rivals Crystal Palace in the semi-finals and ended the year by sacking Manager Gus Poyet in less than ideal circumstances (Poyet was appearing on Match of the Day at the time)⦠Since bringing in new Management though, Brighton had a slightly slow start to their season yet once again are back fighting for promotion and lie in eighth position just two points outside of the Play-Off places. The Manager â Oscar Garcia I must admit my knowledge of the new Brighton Manager is limited so will be relying on Wikipedia for this part of the Thread (so there is the strong possibility he has won everything Football has to offer on that basisâ¦) On a serious note Oscar Garcia was an Attacking Midfielder during his playing career having spells at Barcelona, Valencia and Espanyol⦠Upon retirement from playing, Garcia became a youth coach at Barcelona before taking on his first Managerial position with Israeli side Maccabi Tel-Aviv with whom he won the Israeli Championship (the clubâs first after a 10-year drought)⦠Although he was on a two year Contract, Garcia resigned after just one year and subsequently joined Brighton this June. Key Men Tomasz Kuszczak â Ex-Premier League Goalkeeper with West Bromwich Albion and Manchester United who is likely to miss this match due to injury. Matt Upson â Another Brighton player with Premier League pedigree after coming through the Arsenal Academy, Upson has had spells with Birmingham and West Ham whilst also representing England on 21 occasions with two goals. Andrew Crofts â Midfielder who is an International colleague of Simon Church, currently into his second spell with the seagulls after a short period with Norwich City, is the second top highest goal scorer for Brighton this season with five goals. Ashley Barnes â A Striker with over 130 appearances for Brighton after starting out with Plymouth Argyle, Barnes is currently their highest goal scorer with 6 goals this season⦠One notable fact is that Ashley Barnes is eligible to represent Austria through parentage and has appeared once for their U20s Previous Meetings Looking through the head to head meetings between these two sides, Brighton are another side who lead the way on victories having won on 22 occasions⦠Charlton have 20 wins to their name (with one coming in the League Cup) whilst eleven fixtures have been drawn. 02.04.2013 â Brighton 0-0 Charlton 08.12.2012 â Charlton 2-2 Brighton (Wilson, Pritchard; Mackail-Smith, Lua-Lua) 29.10.2010 â Brighton 1-1 Charlton (Murray; Jackson) 16.10.2010 â Charlton 0-4 Brighton (Calderon, Murray, Lua-Lua, Sparrow) Last Victory over Brighton 01.12.2009 â Brighton 0-2 Charlton (Burton, Wagstaff) Charltonâs last victory at the Valley over Brighton was in 1991 Charlton Team News After a strong 1-1 draw with Bolton on Saturday, Chris Powell am sure will be loath to make many changes to the side, Ben Hamer should still be a few more matches away from fitness whilst Johnnie Jackson will serve the remainder of his suspension⦠Marvin Sordell again will be available after missing out against his parent club, whilst Joe Pigott may make the bench after illness. Possible Team to face Brighton Alnwick Solly â Morrison â Wood â Wiggins Wilson â Cousins â Stephens â Stewart Kermorgant â Church Substitutes Bench Pope â Evina â Dervite â Hughes â Green â Pritchard â Sordell The Referee Travelling From: Hertfordshire Matches This Season: 6 (2 in the Championship) Yellow / Red Cards: 23 / 0 Penalties: 1 (Yeovil v Nottm Forest) Last Charlton Match: 02.04.2013 (Brighton 0-0 Charlton) A4Lâs Prediction: 2-1 (Church, Wood) Due to it being Christmas over the next couple of days, just wanted to get this Thread done and dusted hence it being slightly earlier Want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas Thanks for reading
Recent Boxing Day Results 2013 - Charlton 1-2 Ipswich (Haynes; Campbell, Murphy) 2012 - Yeovil 2-3 Charlton (Obika, Huntington; Hollands, Kermorgant, Green) 2010 - Charlton 2-2 Swindon (Shelvey, Llera; Austin, Paynter)
Great stuff, A4L, nice and early again. I dread to think what the pitch will be like if this rain keeps up.
Not sure if Solly will play, unlikely to be able to play every match over the holidays. Prefer Dervite to Wood. The 4-0 loss to Brighton a few years ago is still fresh in the memory, dreadful day. Top work a4l
Why would you prefer Dervite to Wood? Wood is much the better defender as has been shown with how few goals we concede when he is playing.
I must admit I prefer Wood to Dervite as he seems to like to play it out of Defence (same with Morrison) where as Dervite I find will just thump the ball to safety (Sometimes a positive of course yet it makes it more difficult creating when we're just dealing with the long ball)
Nice one A4L.... I can see this called off some time on boxing day morning...... after the Brighton fans have left of course
Nice one A4L, I hope santa brings you something after all your hard work. I'll go for us going 2-0 down and the game being called off at half time, with a side bet that the game does'nt even start.
i hope it's called off! i leant my tickets to a friend (while we had our kid) and now they've gone away till the 28th.
Game will be called off. You got a terrible pitch. Onto the game, I wish you could both lose really but I I reckon a bore draw (if you can afford to drain the pitch)
When you combine the fact he's had three matches off and the fact that we've entered the Christmas period I'd be very surprised if he didnt start against Sheffield Wednesday, only way I cant see him starting is if we smash Brighton 1-0 ;-)
I hope The Doctor has them in training on Christmas day, like Curbs did when we beat Chelsea 4-2. The players might not like it, but the manager isn't paid to be liked.
Nightmare journey to the Valley coming up thanks to Southeastern, but wouldn't miss it for all the tea in china. I just hope the chippy in Floyd Road is open today....i want my pre match festive spam fritter. Should be a 20,000 plus crowd today.
