Maheta Molango, Brighton’s 12 second man
What can you do in 12 seconds? According to a quick Google search, you can down a pint, break into someone’s home, exceed the speed limit and make a good impression.
If you’re Maheta Molango, you can also score on your debut for Brighton and Hove Albion. Which kind of ticks the good impression box as well.
12 seconds was all it took for Molango to open his Albion account on the opening day of the 2004-05 Championship season away at Reading. It was also how long it took to close his account as he never scored again but hey, what a 12 seconds they were.
Molango began his career in the youth team at Atletico Madrid without ever making the breakthrough with Los Colchoneros and was released in the summer of 2003 to join Wacker Burghauseu. He spent the 2003-04 season with the Bundesliga 2 outfit, making six appearances without scoring.
At this point in time, Brighton didn’t have a pot to piss in and that made players like Molango extremely appealing to manager Mark McGhee.
McGhee was desperately seeking a new striker to replace Chris Iwelumo, who’d decided not to turn his successful loan move from Stoke City into a permanent deal, preferring instead to move to Germany with Alemannia Aachen.
Given the huge role Iwelumo had played in helping the Albion to win promotion out of Division Two via the play offs, those were pretty big boots to fill.
McGhee therefore was casting his net far and wide. Molango was one of three strikers brought in on trial to try and replace Iwellumo, as well as complementing 23 goal man Leon Knight and the less glamorous Chris McPhee.
The other two were Niger striker Ibrahim Tankary and Hungarian forward Zsombor Kerekes, both of whom were in their 30s.
McGhee very quickly decided that Tankary wasn’t up to the job, hardly surprising given that he’d spent most of his career being a journeyman striker in the Belgian lower leagues.
McGhee was less decisive when it came to Kerekes. The Hungarian was given two trials as the Albion boss ummmed and ahhhhhed about offering him a deal.
It was only four days before the opening day at the Madjeski Stadium that McGhee decided not to sign Kerekes, questioning his mobility.
There were no such doubts about Molango. Four goals in his first three pre-season appearances against Woking, Weymouth and Crawley Town convinced McGhee to offer the striker the best birthday present possible – a three year deal in the same week that he turned 22.
And so we arrived at that glorious day at the Madjeski Stadium. With Knight suspended, McPhee out injured and Jake Robinson only old enough to legally drive a tractor and not a car, Molango spearheaded the Albion attack on their return to the second tier after a season absence.
Playing as a lone striker in a 4-5-1, it appeared as though he’d have somewhat of a thankless task against a Reading side that were managed by former Brighton boss Steve Coppell and included such talents as Nicky Shorey, Ivor Ingimarsson, James Harper, Steve Sidwell, Nicky Forster and Dave Kitson.
A long afternoon under the Berkshire sunshine looked in store as referee Phil Crossley blew his whistle to get the season underway.
Paul Reid and Charlie Oatway kicked off, passing the ball back to Adam Virgo. Virgo showed just what a cultured player he was by taking a touch and then leathering the ball 70 yards down the pitch.
Molango chased to put Adie Williams under minimal pressure but it was enough to force the Reading defender into making a right hash out of his clearing header.
Glen Little didn’t do much better with the loose ball and he was dispossessed by Reid. That knocked it through to Molango who strode past the static home defence to hit a side footed volley past Marcus Hahnemann. 1-0 to Brighton and a place in Albion folklore for Molango.
The Albion ended up losing 3-2 that day but it looked to be an encouraging start and things were meant to get better from there for both Brighton and Molango.
Aside from Molango’s pre-season goals, one of the most promising aspects of his friendly performances had been the way in which he’d linked up with Knight. They’d scored all three goals at Weymouth between them and looked to have the basis of a promising partnership.
They played together for the first time in a competitive match away at Wigan Athletic in the third game of the season once Knight had completed his suspension. Brighton failed to score in a 3-0 defeat.
They then partnered each other in a League Cup defeat to League Two Bristol Rovers, and that was it. Never again did they take to the field together.
Molango was jettisoned after just five starts with McGhee deciding to play position roulette and try Virgo up front.
For a decision that looked to have been taken by a man sniffing glue, that was actually a remarkable success and spelled the end of Molango’s brief Albion career.
He still had two years and 10 months left on his contract, in which time he managed two further substitute appearances. The first of those was in the 90th minute of a 1-0 win away at Leicester City less a week after he’d been dropped.
He then had to wait over two years to represent the Albion again, in between various loan spells with Lincoln City, Oldham Athletic and Wrexham, coming on away at Carlisle United with Brighton back in League One.
Dean Wilkins afforded him a half in the 3-1 defeat at Brunton Park before telling him three months later to find a new club.
That new club was Grays Athletic but he lasted only two games there before returning to Spain, where he began undertaking qualifications to become a lawyer specialising in sport in Madrid.
He can now be found as CEO of Spanish side Real Mallorca. Their Paul Barber if you like, just without a hatred of flasks and a penchant for fleecing fans.
Apart from those 12 seconds, things never worked out for Molango at the Albion. But what become of the other strikers he trialed with? Tankary went back to moving around the lower leagues in Belgium, even spending a season with Union Saint Galloise who are now owned by Tony Bloom.
Kerekes meanwhile was much more successful. He went onto win three Hungarian titles with Debreceni VSC, play Champions League football and earn nine caps for Hungary, scoring two international goals.
But would he have scored after 12 seconds of his Albion debut? Of course not. Only one man could do that. Maheta Molango, the 12 second man.
