Brighton v Watford: History & head-to-head of Seagulls v Hornets

Brighton and Hove Albion v Watford – with 164 previous meetings in 13 different competitions stretching back nearly 120 years, the Hornets are the opposition that the Albion have faced more than any other in their history.

In the early days of the fixture, quite a rivalry built up between the two clubs. The history is littered with cup finals, battles for league titles and a remarkable run of four consecutive seasons in which Brighton drew Watford in the FA Cup. Given the number of teams who enter the world’s greatest cup competition, the odds on that happening are 9,000,000/1.

The two sides first met in 1903 in a test match – the Edwardian equivalent of a playoff final – to decide if Southern League Division Two champions Albion should take the place of Watford in Division One, who had finished in the relegation zone.

Brighton duly did that, winning 5-3 at the Canning Town Memorial Ground, home at the time to West Ham United. Hero status was assured for Ben Garfield who scored four of the goals that day and he was treated like royalty once the team returned to Brighton to celebrate in the Seven Stars pub, this being a century before Molly Malone’s became the hangout of choice for Albion players.

Six years later and there was another final to be played between Seagulls and Hornets when Watford stood between the Albion and a potential league and cup double which would position them as one of the finest clubs in the land.

Stamford Bridge was the venue for the Southern League Cup Final and a solitary goal from Bullet Jones secured the silverware. A few weeks later and the Albion were confirmed as Southern League champions.

They then went onto beat Football League winners Aston Villa in the Charity Shield final to be crowned unofficial champions of England, completing an historic treble under the management of Jack Robson.

Brighton’s first game after that stunning success over Villa also came against Watford and it offers reassurance that the idea of “Typical Albion” isn’t a relatively new phenomena.

For the Class of 2017 blowing a seven point lead with three games to go, we had the Class of 1910 losing 2-1 away at Vicarage Road five days after their Charity Shield success.

Those heady days were a distant memory when the FA Cup threw the sides together consistently for the best part of half a decade. In 1924, Brighton eventually triumphed 4-3 in a second round replay.

1925 saw Watford gain revenge with a 1-0 first round win which again required a replay. The Albion were then victorious in the following two seasons, winning 1-0 at Vicarage Road in 1926 and 2-1 at the same venue in 1927 in the second and first rounds respectively.

There was a fifth FA Cup meeting four years later in 1931 in the fourth round, by which point both clubs and their supporters were starting to get sick of the sight of each other.

Drawing Watford on that occasion was particularly cruel for the Albion, who had shocked top flight Leicester in round three and were no doubt dreaming of another upset. Instead, they found themselves losing 2-0 away at their Division Three South rivals. Life can be a cruel mistress sometimes.

Thankfully, that was the last time the sides would meet in the FA Cup until 1975 when the Seagulls Special train service made its debut for the trip to Vicarage Road.

Off the pitch, the idea of chartering trains to games was clearly a success as the Specials gained a place in Albion folklore over the next few years. It was a good day on it as well as goals from Neil Martin and a Fred Binney double secured a 3-0 win for Peter Taylor’s side.

Wartime football threw up a couple of interesting meetings, including another playoff for the title of World War II League South champions at the end of the 1940-41 season.

Because of the incompletion of fixtures in the division owing to Luton Town and Norwich City’s late introduction to the competition, Watford decided to dispute the Albion’s final finishing position at the top of the pile.

Both sides were locked on 17 points with Brighton sitting pretty in first on goal difference. Charlie Webb’s side had also played one less game than Watford, which gave them a better points average if you want to go down that route.

Basically, the Hornets had no real claim to the title. They had played more matches to pick up the required points total, they averaged less points per game than Brighton and their goal difference was worse.

Despite all that, a one-off challenge match was remarkably set up to decide the destination of the trophy. Justice prevailed and it was the Albion who were crowned champions after a 4-1 victory thanks to two goals apiece from Bert Stephens and Jack Balmer.

After that, Brighton only won one of their next eight War League clashes with Watford but one of those did lead to one of the better tales from wartime football when the Hornets came to the Goldstone in 1943.

With no recognised goalkeeper available – there was a war on, after all – Webb was forced into taking the pretty unorthodox decision of asking who from his squad fancied going in goal.

It was full back Stan Ridson who bravely volunteered to stand between the posts against Watford, writing himself into Brighton history.

This probably wasn’t the best decision Ridson ever made as he let in five in the first half, at which point his team mates had had enough and inside right Ernie Reid went in. Reid ended up keeping a clean sheet.

Hopefully, Graham Potter has not read this as he needs no encouragement to try something along the lines of sticking Neal Maupay in goal.

If that was memorable for Ridson, then another player with fond memories of facing Watford would be Adrian Thorne. Brighton needed a point from the last game of the 1957-58 season to secure promotion to the second tier for the first time ever.

With Dave Sexton out injured, manager Billy Lane had drafted in 20-year-old Sussex boy Thorne to lead the line for the final three games.

In only his seventh appearance for the club, Thorne went berserk, scoring five times in a 6-0 rout of Watford as a then-record crowd 31,038 packed the Goldstone to watch Brighton history being made.

In more recent times, the memorable moments have largely belonged to Watford. There was Chris Eagles’ goal from the halfway line at Withdean in 2006 which was arguably the greatest strike that the Theatre of Trees ever saw, the midfielder spotting Wayne Henderson off his line and subsequently leathering the ball from inside his own half straight over the head of the hapless Albion goalkeeper.

Henderson was unfortunate on that occasion but one goalkeeper who was just, well, shit was David Gonzalez who made the first of his two Brighton appearances against Watford in April 2012.

He conceded two goals that a grandmother could genuinely had stopped and every time he caught the ball, was on the receiving end of sarcastic cheers from the home crowd, much to the displeasure of Gus Poyet.

Watford drew at the Amex that day and they have got a pretty good record in Sussex since the Albion moved to their new home with just two defeats in eight meetings.

They even won promotion to the Premier League at the Amex with with a 2-0 win on the penultimate weekend of the 2014-15 season.

In the Graham Potter Era, Albion have enjoyed face Watford – as long as the game takes place in the month of August.

Potter had one of the most sensational debuts of any new manager in Brighton history on the opening day of the 2019-20 campaign as his side won 3-0 at Vicarage Road to blow away a Watford outfit who had reached the FA Cup Final just three months previously.

A first half own goal and second half efforts from Florin Andone and debutant Neal Maupay sent the Seagulls to their joint-biggest away win in the Premier League.

Two years later and more history was made as Brighton beat Watford 2-0 at the Amex, setting a new club record for their best ever start to a top flight campaign. Shane Duffy and Maupay again were in the goals to leave Albion fans dreaming of Europe…