Fans back at the Amex: Photos from Brighton 2-0 Watford
A capacity crowd were allowed to return to the Amex Stadium for the first time in 18 months as Brighton beat Watford 2-0 – and we have captured all the glory of the occasion thanks to your fan photos.
The day was always going to be an emotional with Seagulls supporters having been kept away for so long. We returned to a new experience of watching football, one where you had to show ID to get in, use a mobile ticket and prove you were either not carrying Covid 19 or had been double vaccinated.
Perhaps the stringent checks necessary put a lot of people off as there were numerous empty seats, despite the club announcing an almost laughable attendance of 29,485. The fact you now have to pay £20 to give your ticket to somebody else if you cannot attend also seemed to have an impact.
Those who did show up were treated to the Albion putting on quite a show. A sea of blue and white flags greeted the players as they made their way onto the pitch to a rousing chorus of Sussex by the Sea which more than one person reported gave them goose bumps.
The players did their bit on the pitch. For the first time ever in the top flight, Brighton opened a season with two wins out of two, the defeat of an admittedly poor Watford outfit following the previous week’s 2-1 win at Burnley.
Shane Duffy got the party started when crashing home a header with only nine minutes on the clock. Neal Maupay then doubled the advantage just before half time with a clinical finish to continue his fine start to the campaign.
It could and should have been more. Aaron Connolly was guilty of a typically terrible miss in the second half. So dominant were Brighton that Robert Sanchez was a virtual spectator throughout, able to enjoy the occasion as did everyone who returned to the Amex following such a long, long time away.
If you have any photos you’d like included our Brighton 2-0 Watford gallery, please e-mail them to wearebrighton@hotmail.co.uk or tweet them to us @wearebrighton
