Brighton v Swansea: History & head-to-head of Seagulls v Swans

Brighton have faced Swansea City across all four of the current Football League divisions, the old Division Three South, the FA Cup, the League Cup and the Paint Pot in their 120 year history.

And there is one thing that happens more regularly than anything else in this fixture – a Swansea clean sheet. Brighton have failed to score against the Swans on 25 out of 64 occasions. If you are good with fractions, you will know that is over a third of the previous meetings.

Swansea shutouts are as common as Swans victory (also 25), happen more frequently than a draw between the clubs (22) and, needless to say, are much more regular than Brighton wins in the fixture (just 17).

This may come as a surprise to Amex-era Brighton fans, whose only experiences of matches with Swansea so far have come in the 2017-18 season.

A 4-1 win at the Amex thanks to goals from DJ Jurgen Locadia, Anthony Knockaert and a Glenn Murray brace secured a big three points in the Premier League relegation battle.

It remains the Albion’s biggest victory of their current top flight spell to date and ensured Chris Hughton the Manager of the Month Award for overseeing an unbeaten February, also featuring a big win over West Ham United and a draw at Stoke City.

Glenn Murray’s winner in the 1-0 win at the Liberty Stadium a little under four months earlier had sent Brighton eighth in the Premier League table and ended a barren run of five games without a goal against Swansea.

Things were even worse in the early part of the last century; between 1920 and 1949 the sides faced each other 14 times in Division Three South with Brighton failing to score on 10 of those occasions.

One of those shutouts was nearly extremely costly for the Albion, coming as it did on the final day of the 1947-48 season.

If you thought that fateful day at Hereford in 1997 was the only time Brighton have come close to dropping out of the Football League in their history, then think again as it nearly happened against Swansea 59 years earlier.

Don Welsh’s Seagulls needed to win at Vetch Field to guarantee not finishing stone cold last in Division Three South, having started the day three places off the bottom.

A 0-0 draw coupled with wins for both Bristol Rovers and Norwich City meant a last placed finish for the Seagulls as the worst team in the Football League.

Luckily for the Albion, this was in the days before relegation into non-league football was automatic. Promotion and demotion was instead decided via an election against amateurs wishing to take the step up to the professional ranks.

Thankfully, Brighton were re-elected to the Football League following that draw with Swansea, meaning that Colchester United, Gillingham and Worcester City remained in non-league… how different might the Albion’s history look if that vote had gone the other way?

Fast forward 61 years and Brighton v Swansea on the last day of the 2007-08 season featured a very different type of celebration for Swans fans as they were crowned League One champions at Withdean.

Febian Brandy got the only goal of the game in a 1-0 win for the visitors, managed at the time by Roberto Martinez. Brighton bid farewell to Skint as their club sponsor that afternoon against Swansea, wearing a special edition kit to mark the end of an eight-year sponsorship agreement – one of the most successful and popular in Albion history.

Little did we know at the time, but it would also end up being Dean Wilkins’ final game in charge of the Albion. Despite achieving a seventh placed finish with a young team, Dick Knight decided to replace Wilkins with Micky Adams just a few weeks after the campaign had ended.

The theory was that Adams would be the man to lead Brighton into the Championship as the new stadium at Falmer opened, just as Martinez had done with Swansea and their Liberty Stadium – needless to say, this ended up being one of the worst managerial changes in Albion history.

Adams was sacked within nine months, leaving Brighton in the League One relegation zone. It took the Houdini skills of Russell Slade to save the Albion from a return to the bottom tier, the man who looked like a boiled egg somehow rescuing Brighton despite being eight points adrift of safety with only seven matches left to play.

Slade’s baseball cap remains one of the most iconic accessories in Brighton history and matches against Swansea are used to seeing fashion statements made too.

Swansea away on the opening day of the 1994-95 season remains one of the only times when arguably the most popular kit in Brighton history made one of its few appearances.

Liam Brady’s arrival at the club and his links with the great Inter Milan saw the Albion have a blue and black striped away kit for the 1994-95 season.

With Brighton having a blue home kit, there were were very opportunities to wear this striking new number – especially as these were the days when away kits were only worn when there was a genuine clash. Essentially, the only times the Inter Milan kit could feasibly appear was against opponents who wore white.

There were not many of those in the third tier that season. Swansea were one however and so those who braved the trip to Wales were treated to the beautiful blue and black kit and a 1-1 draw courtesy of a Kurt Nogan goal.

We say braved the trip to the Vetch, because it was never the happiest of hunting grounds for Brighton. It was also a pretty scary place to go, with Albion fans of a certain vintage recalling stories of being chased around the streets once the locals realised they were English, only saved from a kicking by angry Welshmen by B&B owners barricading doors shut.

Frequent Friday night games did not help, as was the case whenever Wales were playing rugby on the Saturday during the 1990s to avoid a clash with the egg chasing. Swansea fans were even more tanked up on Brains than normal, making it a frightening experience.

On one Friday night game in February 1998, Brighton defender Ross Johnson found himself scoring twice in Jeff Wood’s first game in charge of the Albion as permanent manager.

A decent 2-2 draw at the Vetch was overshadowed when a Swansea supporter invaded the pitch to throw a load of racial abuse at Albion midfielder Mickey Bennett.

The Albion’s last ever visit to the Vetch was at least a happier occasion. Just 87 fans made the journey for an LDV Vans Trophy game in the 2001-02 season, but they were lucky enough to see one of the greatest moments in Brighton history as German Pornstar Dirk Lehmann scored his only goal for the club in a 2-1 victory.