Aaron Connolly v Sheffield United wins WAB Brighton Miss of 2020-21

With Aaron Connolly holding three of the six nominations for the inaugural WAB Brighton Miss of the Season 2020-21 award, it seemed likely that Love Island’s biggest fan was going to end up with the prize.

The question was which one of his squandered opportunities would it be? The high-and-wide free header from two yards out against Sheffield United? The rebound fired over an open goal from six yards at West Brom? Or the one-on-one in the final day defeat at Arsenal that went out for a throw?

It was a close run thing but doing just about enough to triumph was the Sheffield United header, taking 29.47 percent of the vote ahead of the West Brom rebound in second place on 26.65 percent.

There were several aspects to the Sheffield United header that made it a worthy winner. The obvious place to start was the way that Connolly somehow managed to put the ball both over the bar and wide of the post from a matter of inches with 24 feet of open space directly in front of him to aim at.

Secondly was the fact that Connolly not only managed to defy the laws of physics with his miss, but that Danny Welbeck was lurking right behind him. Had Connolly left the cross, then Dat Guy surely would have completed the simple task of nodding into an empty net.

The third reason that it was so good was the context. The Blades arrived at the Amex having picked up one point from 13 matches to set the worst ever start to a top flight season in English footballing history.

John Lundstram then got sent off with just over 30 minutes played, leaving Brighton an hour with a man advantage to try and find a way to beat the Premier League’s rock-bottom club.

In typical Albion style, they contrived to go 1-0 down on the hour mark to a Jayden Bogle goal. Brighton were still behind when Aaron Connolly produced his astonishing miss before Welbeck spared the Albion the embarrassment of being the first club to lose to Sheffield United in 2020-21 with an 87th minute equaliser.

Poor results against the bottom three like Brighton 1-1 Sheffield United were a recurring theme across the campaign. It was another such encounter with a relegated side that gave Connolly his second place finish in Miss of the Season when the Albion lost 1-0 away at West Brom in February.

The Albion were trailing at the Hawthorns when a glorious chance fell to Connolly midway through the second half. Sam Johnstone in the Baggies goal had pulled off an outrageous stop from Neal Maupay with the rebound falling to Connolly.

Johnstone was on the floor, Connolly was bang in the middle of the goal and no more than six yards out. No prizes for guessing what happened next – the Irishman smashed the ball over the bar.

What made this Aaron Connolly effort all the more impressive was that it was the worst miss on an afternoon when Brighton managed to put two penalties against the frame of the goal.

Pascal Gross and Welbeck hit the bar and the post respectively from 12 yards out – winning WAB Comedy Moment of the Season along the way – and yet Connolly still managed to outdo them.

Unfortunately for Connolly, he could not quite secure a clean sweep of the top three. Third spot instead went to Monsieur Maupay for his penalty miss in November’s 1-1 draw against Liverpool.

Whilst neither Gross or Welbeck covered themselves in glory with their penalty against West Brom, they did at least rattle the woodwork. Maupay could not even get his effort on target, casually passing the ball several feet wide of the post.

To make the whole situation even better, Maupay then substituted himself off within 60 seconds of that miss after snapping his enthusiasm. Oh, Neal!

WeAreBrighton.com Brighton Miss of the Season 2020-21 – The Results

Aaron Connolly v Sheffield United (H) – 29.47%
Aaron Connolly v West Brom (A) – 26.65%
Neal Maupay v Liverpool (H) – 15.89%
Aaron Connolly v Arsenal (A) – 14.23%
Alireza Jahanbakhsh v Sheffield United (H) – 11.25%
Leandro Trossard v Leeds United (H) – 2.48%

Previous Winners: New category! Part of me hopes it never features again in a WAB End of Season Awards… but part of me hopes it does just for the LOLs.