Brighton v Leeds: History & head-to-head of Albion v World’s Biggest Club

What with The Leeds United being the biggest club in the world and everything, it might surprise you to know that Brighton have a shockingly good record in a fixture which has become one of the most entertaining in Albion history.

49 times Brighton and Leeds have played each other since the first meeting in 1960. The plucky Seagulls have somehow won 18 of those against the Champions of Europe, matching Leeds who also have 18 victories. There have been 13 draws.

Incredible, right? Brighton actually won the opening clash between the sides on Saturday 24th September 1960, a 2-1 success at the Goldstone Ground in the second tier with both goals coming from Ian McNeill.

Most of the Albion’s joy against Leeds came in the 2010s when under Gus Poyet He Who Must Not Be Named, Oscar Garcia, Sami Hyppia (yes, even the Clueless Finn found a way to beat Leeds) and Chris Hughton, Brighton won eight, drew two and lost two of their 12 Championship games with the Peacocks.

We will come to that golden period shortly. After spending the 1960-61 and 1961-62 campaigns together, Brighton’s relegation back to the third tier at the completion of the latter meant that it would be nearly 20 years before the clubs met again, once the Albion had completed their first rise to the top flight.

For reasons unknown, Leeds became a traditional final game of the season fixture for Brighton during the 1980s. This meant that it often became marred in drama, none more so than when the Peacocks came to the Goldstone on the final day of the 1980-81 campaign on Saturday 2nd May.

Three weeks earlier and the Albion had looked doomed to relegation from the old Division One. There were four games left to play and not even victory in all of those would guarantee survival, such was the hopelessness of the situation. The Albion had to pick up maximum points in every remaining match and hope results went their way.

Remarkably, that is exactly what happened. Alan Mullery’s side beat Crystal Palace, Leicester City and Sunderland, hauling themselves level on points with the Black Cats and Norwich City going into the last game when Leeds came to Hove.

A victory over the world’s biggest club meant that Brighton would stay up by virtue of a goal difference miles better than Norwich. The biggest crowd of the season of 27,577 was present to see Andy Ritchie’s 80th minute strike decide the tie 2-1 after Steve Foster had opened the scoring in the first half.

The Great Escape was complete, but even so it was the end of Mullery’s spell in charge. Nobody knew it at the time, but Brighton 2-1 Leeds would be the final game that the most successful manager in the Albion’s history would be sat in the dugout for, as a falling out with chairman Mike Bamber saw Mullery replaced in the summer by Mike Bailey.

Fast forward a year and this time, it was Leeds’ turn to be deep in relegation trouble as the sides met at Elland Road in what was Brighton’s final game of the campaign. For the hosts, it was their penultimate match and they had to win to stand any chance of staying up.

That meant a Leeds crowd even more febrile than normal. Not that the great Michael Robinson cared about triggering the locals.

Robinson opened the scoring with his 11th goal of the season and celebrated it in front of the Leeds support like it was the winner in an FA Cup final. That nearly sparked carnage and violence of the sort rarely seen outside of a war zone.

Thankfully, the home side scored twice in second half injury time to win 2-1 and they lived to fight another day – although not for long.

If you are in any doubt about how brave/stupid that was from Robinson, Leeds were relegated three days later at West Bromwich Albion and the Peacocks’ fans marked the occasion by embarking on a riot so bad that it dismantled part of the away stand at the Hawthorns.

The 1986-87 season saw Brighton and Leeds meet again on the final day, an afternoon remembered for one of the worst outbreaks of violence in the history of the Goldstone.

There was absolutely no reason for it, either. Brighton’s relegation to the third tier as Division Two’s bottom club had already been confirmed and Leeds were guaranteed a playoff spot. Nothing was on the line.

3,000 Leeds supporters made up the crowd of 8,139. After going on the rampage before the game, they then scaled the Goldstone’s fences at the final whistle to invade the pitch and attack police and Albion fans alike. Nice.

Brighton v Leeds took another hiatus between 1989 and 2004, since when the clubs have been regular foes in both the third tier and second tier.

The Albion picked up famous Withdean wins over their illustrious opponents in the 2004-05 and 2005-06 Championship seasons and a couple of draws at Elland Road, including on Saturday 29th January 2005 when David Yelldell famously had the game of his life wearing a pink shirt in front of a pretty homophobic home following.

Brighton’s fun in the fixture truly started once former Leeds assistant manager Poyet You Know Who was in charge.

We have already touched upon the fact that the Albion won eight of 12 games against the Champions of Europe between 2011 and 2017, but it was the entertainment level on offer whenever Brighton faced Leeds that has turned the fixture into one of the most eagerly anticipated of recent Seagulls history.

There are always goals, usually last minute drama, often a penalty and normally somebody will get sent off. Leeds’ first visit to the Amex came on Friday 23rd September 2011 and saw Ross McCormack score an injury time equaliser as a ding-dong game in which Craig Mackail-Smith went berserk with a brace finished 3-3.

The return at Elland Road on Saturday 11th February 2012 saw Alan Navarro choose a good time to score his one and only Brighton goal as a last minute winner gave Poyet’s The Dark Lord’s side a 2-1 success.

Mackail-Smith again scored in that one and he had another Amex double in a 2-2 draw between the sides in the 2012-13 season. It should have been a hat-trick as Brighton’s then-record buy missed a penalty which let Leeds off the hook as they recovered from 2-0 down to take a point.

Brighton confirmed their playoff place that season with more late drama at Leeds when Leonardo Ulloa’s 88th minute winner secured a 2-1 win on Saturday 27th April 2013.

Rodolph Austin was sent off after just 13 minutes and Inigo Calderon joined him when bringing down El-Hadji Diouf in the box with 15 minutes remaining.

Diouf dusted himself down, scored the penalty and then produced an astonishing celebration as he ran towards the Brighton fans grabbing his testicles and pointing to his bottom. He was sent off as a result, paving the way for Ulloa’s winner in a frankly ridiculous 90 minutes.

Three months later and Luke Murphy was the player scoring a last minute winner as Leeds inflicted a 2-1 loss on Brighton in Oscar Garcia’s first game in charge.

Oscar’s replacement, Sami Hyypia, got his first win as Albion boss on Tuesday 19th August 2014 as Joao Teixeira and Kazenga LuaLua scored in a 2-0 victory.

It says much about the Seagulls recent record against Leeds that even one of the worst managers in Brighton history has managed to beat them.

From one of the worst managers in Brighton history beating Leeds to one of the best players returning with a goal against them.

Saturday 17th October 2015 saw Bobby Zamora score in Albion colours for the first time in over 12 years when his beautiful little dink in the 89th minute secured a 2-1 victory at Elland Road.

Brighton followed that up by beating Leeds 4-0 at the Amex on Monday 29th February 2016, the biggest margin of victory in the history of Seagulls v World’s Biggest Club.

Tomer Hemed scored two penalties that evening and it was spot kicks from Hemed and Glenn Murray which gave the Albion a 2-0 victory over Leeds at the Amex in the 2016-17 season.

The last time we met in the Championship came the following March. Former Brighton striker Chris Wood scored twice – once from the spot – as Leeds picked up a 2-0 win which their supporters thought had blown the promotion race wide open.

29,767 were at Elland Road that day and delighted in taunting the Albion with the chant “You’ll **** it up.” Instead, Hughton’s side won their next five games in a row to secure promotion to the Premier League with three matches still to play.

Leeds meanwhile won just won of their last eight, blowing an eight point gap as they tumbled from fourth to finish outside of the playoffs. Talk about ****ing it up.

Three years later and Leeds finally managed to join Brighton in the Premier League, thanks in part to the efforts of Ben White who spent the season on loan at Elland Road.

Most Peacocks supporters thought it was a formality that Leeds would sign White permanently from Brighton, because who would not want to play for the biggest club in football history?

Except of course, Leeds fans were suffering from their normal delusions of grandeur. The Albion were under no obligation to sell, White stayed at the Amex and helped Brighton become the only team to do the double over Marcelo Bielsa’s side in the 2020-21 season.

A 1-0 win at Elland Road thanks to a Neal Maupay goal represented just a third Premier League win of the season at the 19th attempt for the Albion.

The Seagulls’ form picked up markedly after that however and survival was all-but assured when Pascal Gross and Danny Welbeck secured a 2-0 victory at the Amex over Leeds four months later.