Penalties at West Brom voted WAB Brighton Comedy Moment of 2020-21

Even by Brighton & Hove Albion’s high standards when it comes to finding ways of failing to win games of football, missing two penalties in under an hour away at West Brom in February was seriously impressive.

It was one of those if you don’t laugh, then you’ll have to cry moments – which makes it just as well that Seagulls supporters have a sense of humour as the events of that ghastly afternoon at the Hawthorns have been voted as the WAB Comedy Moment of the Season with 39.26 percent of the vote.

One of the most notable aspects of human development is how people from Germany have evolved to never, ever miss penalties. For Brighton to somehow remove that inbuilt ability from a player from the land of bier and bratwurst is quite incredible, and yet that is exactly what we saw happen to Pascal Gross with penalty number one.

The normally reliable playmaker could not even get his effort on target, instead clipping the crossbar as the ball flew high into the stands for what would have been a successful rugby conversion.

West Brom – with only one Premier League home win to their name all season – had already taken an early lead through Kyle Bartley before Gross’ struck his three points in the wrong sport following a ridiculously soft handball decision against Okay Yokuslu.

Referee Lee Mason followed that controversial decision by taking centre stage in a bizarre incident involving a quickly taken Lewis Dunk free kick.

Mr Mason appeared to tell the Brighton captain he could strike the ball whilst the Baggies defence were still getting organised. Dunk duly did this and Mr Mason allowed the goal before disallowing, allowing again and finally disallowing it, showing all the decisiveness of the Chuckle Brothers.

Perhaps it was because Mr Mason realised what a cock up he had made of that situation that he now seemed determined to help find further excuses to award Brighton penalties against West Brom, in the hope of gifting the Albion the equaliser he had incorrectly denied them.

That chance duly arrived just past the hour mark when Gross was felled by Conor Townsend in the area. Mr Mason pointed the spot thinking that this was his chance to make amends but that of course relied on Brighton being able to do something as simple as score a penalty.

Danny Welbeck this time was the man to fail, hitting the post. Welbeck taking the spot kick was a strange decision it itself as according to Transfermarkt, he had only taken one penalty outside of a shootout in his entire career – for Arsenal in a 3-1 Europa League win against AC Milan in March 2018.

To round off the embarrassment nicely, Welbeck then conceded a free kick after attempting (and failing) to convert the rebound. Dat Guy did not realise that another player had to touch the ball before he could do so again, not that it mattered as the follow up was an even worse effort that the original.

The game ended up finishing West Brom 1-0 Brighton with another unwanted Premier League record for the Albion as they became the first side in Premier League history to hit the woodwork with two penalties in a single game. Still, it was another step towards the xG Champions League which we all know is the real reason for playing football.

Second place in Comedy Moment of the Season went to the Brighton fan who climbed a tree to watch the FA Cup third round tie away at Newport County, his madcap antics doing enough to take 17.80 percent of the vote.

In terms of ways to spend a Sunday night, a good bottle of red and something decent on Netflix is how most sane people would use their time.

Fair play then to this particular Albion supporter who provided the highlight of the first half when the BT Sport cameras zoomed in on him watching from the top of a tree outside Rodney Parade, wearing a Brighton shirt and no jumper or coat on one of the coldest nights of the year.

Said fan was treated to a dire game of football which ended up going on for over two hours as it had to be decided via a penalty shoot out. Depending on your viewpoint, he deserved either a medal for dedication or to be taken to a secure psychiatric unit as a matter of urgency.

Third place was close-run thing between Jurgen Klopp’s face and Jason Steele’s performance resembling a Sunday League goalkeeper playing through a mixture of 13 pints of Stella and a couple of grams of MDMA in that Newport game.

In the end, it was Klopp who took the honours with 13.35 percent, denying Steele his second top three finish of the WAB Awards so far. His saving of four penalties in the subsequent shoot out at Rodney Parade was voted into third in Memorable Moment of the Season.

Just like with fan up a tree, the BT Sport cameras were responsible for capturing this glorious moment when Klopp’s face wore a look of complete and utter bafflement that Liverpool were struggling to find a way to beat Brighton.

We spent most of the 2020-21 season hearing about how opponents should be beating #TeamsLikeBrighton. This was that phrase perfectly captured in one facial expression from a manager on the verge of having a breakdown because the Albion did not roll over for his reigning champions. Glorious.

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

Missing two penalties in an hour – 39.26%
Fan up a tree – 17.80%
Jurgen Klopp’s face – 13.35%
Jason Steele v Newport – 13.03%
Dan Burn v Wolves – 8.42%
Adam Lallana subs himself off – 8.10%

Previous Winners: Ezequiel Schelotto v Wilfried Zaha (2020), Yves Bissouma laughs at Arsenal (2019), Anthony Knockaert faceplant (2018).