Curse of October

Another winless tenth month in 2014 made it FOUR years since Brighton and Hove Albion last won a game in it - that Nightmare on London Road when Peterborough United were hammered 3-0 in 2010 as Gus Poyet's side marched onto the League One title.

Since then Amy Winehouse has died, Barack Obama has been re-elected, Jimmy Saville has lost his knighthood, Prince William and Kate Middleton have become engaged, married and had two babies and there have been 267 managerial changes in the Football League.

The run covers 19 games with 12 draws and seven defeats during which time we have managed to score 11 times and concede 19. There is no real pattern to it at all, ten away games and nine at home against opponents who have been struggling at the foot of the table such as Yeovil Town and Sheffield Wednesday to high flying, big spending clubs like Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotspur.

Here is that full list of horror for what remains one of the most remarkably baffling runs in Brighton and Hove Albion history

October 2011 - P5 W0 D3 L2 F2 A5
	Saturday 01/10/11: Ipswich Town 3-1 Brighton Vicente scored a stunning first goal for the club to give the Albion the lead at half time, only to see Michael Chopra net twice along with Ibrahima Sonko in 15 second half minutes to give Paul Jewell's Ipswich side the three points at Portman Road.
	Saturday 15/10/11: Brighton 0-0 Hull City 0-0 usually suggests a bore draw but this was far from the case as Nigel Pearson's Hull visited for a Saturday game that was moved to an evening kick off due to a university open day with goalkeepers Casper Ankergren and Adrian Basso both excelling.
	Tuesday 18/10/11: Millwall 1-1 Brighton If Ryan Harley could take penalties, would we even be discussing an October curse? His terrible back pass to David Forde in the first half at The Den meant the Albion had to settle for a point, Jay Simpson cancelling out Craig Noone's opener.
	Monday 24/10/11: Brighton 0-1 West Ham United Stephen Harper and Gonzalo Jara Reyes made their Brighton debuts in front of the Sky cameras but they could do nothing to stem the tide as Kevin Nolan's first half goal and subsequent celebration in front of the North Stand decided this one in West Ham's favour.
	Saturday 29/10/11: Birmingham City 0-0 Brighton Gus Poyet had been chasing Billy Paynter for a number of months as a Glenn Murray replacement (yes, that really did happen) and he finally landed his man, giving him a debut off the bench away at Birmingham in a 0-0 bore draw.

October 2012 - P5 W0 D3 L2 F2 A4
	Tuesday 02/10/12: Brighton 1-1 Ipswich Town Daryl Murphy gave the Tractor Boys a first half lead before Will Buckley popped up with his second of the season ten minutes from time to rescue a point in a game that the Albion dominated and yet couldn't win. Pretty much the story of the first half of 2012/13.
	Saturday 06/10/12: Derby County 0-0 Brighton Tomasz Kuszczak continued to earn rave reviews and show what a vital signing he had been to the Albion cause with an absolutely sensational performance as the Albion withstood a barrage of pressure to take a point away at Derby.
	Saturday 20/10/12: Brighton 0-1 Middlesbrough Another home game in which opposition are completely outplayed, another home game in which Brighton fail to score, another home game in which opposition take three points. This time it was Marvin Emnes doing the damage as Middlesbrough made the long journey worthwhile with a 1-0 win.
	Tuesday 23/10/12: Leicester City 1-0 Brighton Andy King grabbed the only goal for the Foxes at the King Power Stadium as they ran out 1-0 winners. Brighton had a great chance to snatch a point, but Ashley Barnes missed a penalty which led to the surreal scene of him and Kuszczak nearly having a fight on the pitch at the end of the game.
	Saturday 27/10/12: Blackpool 1-1 Brighton Yet another Kuszczak masterclass as the Albion took a point away at Blackpool. And we even managed to score a goal which should have pleased Poyet who admitted he was "bored", Barnes making up for that penalty miss by opening the scoring before Elliott Grandin equalised.

October 2013 - P4 W0 D3 L1 F3 A5
	Tuesday 01/10/13: Brighton 1-1 Sheffield Wednesday Oscar Garcia was now the man at the helm but he couldn't stop the October curse either. The writing was on the wall when it took an 89th minute goal from Keith Andrews to secure a point in a 1-1 draw against struggling Sheffield Wednesday, for whom Matty Fryatt had opened the scoring.
	Saturday 05/10/13: Brighton 1-1 Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest were reduced to ten men for the last half hour and still ran out 3-1 winners as second half goals from Darius Henderson and a Henri Lansbury brace cancelled out Andrew Crofts first half goal. There was drama in the dugout as well with a fight breaking out between the benches.
	Saturday 19/10/13: Yeovil Town 0-0 Brighton Another game against struggling opposition yielded another point, this time the trip to glamorous Huish Park to face relegation threatened Yeovil Town ending in a 0-0 draw despite the introduction of new loan striker Leroy Lita from the bench for his debut.
	Monday 28/10/13: Brighton 1-1 Watford The markerting department took a huge risk in branding the Watford home game Fright Night given some of the Amex performances up to that point in the season, but in the end the Sky cameras were treated to a 1-1 draw. Andrew Crofts cancelling out Sean Murray's fourth minute opener.

October 2014 - P5 W0 D3 L2 F4 A5
	Saturday 04/10/14: Watford 1-1 Brighton Sami Hyypia's side hadn't managed a league win since August so hopes were understandably low about breaking the October curse. They could have done at Watford, missing a number of good chances towards the end in settling for a 1-1 draw after Lewis Dunk's equaliser.
	Saturday 18/10/14: Brighton 1-2 Middlesbrough We never seem able to beat Middlesbrough at the best of times, let alone in October. The visitors were 2-0 ahead before the hour mark through Lee Tomlin and Albert Admoah with Gordon Greer adding a late consolation to keep up the defences fine record of scoring goals.
	Tuesday 21/10/14: Huddersfield Town 1-1 Brighton The Terriers took a 1-0 lead as early as the tenth minute before top scorer Dunk grabbed another equaliser just before half time. And that is how it stayed, with Kazenga LuaLua managing to get himself sent off in the last minute for good measure.
	Saturday 25/10/14: Brighton 1-1 Rotherham United Another defender opened the scoring for the Albion with Joe Bennett on target. Former Seagull Alex Revell cancelled that out early in the second half and the Millers could quite easly have won the game were it not for a superb performance from David Stockdale in the Brighton goal.
	Wednesday 29/10/14: Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 Brighton This was never going to be the game to end the run. With no win against higher league opponents away from home in the cup since 1994, Spurs strolled to a 2-0 victory and a place in the COCup quarter finals through second half goals from Erik Lamela and Harry Kane.