Brighton v West Ham: History & head-to-head of Seagulls v Irons

Before the Albion were promoted to the Premier League, meetings between Brighton and West Ham United used to be few and far between – although that does not mean there is a lack of history between the two clubs, thanks to a host of matches throughout wartime football and in the Southern League in the first two decades of the 20th century.

All things told, Seagulls and Hammers have crossed swords 71 times. Brighton have triumphed on 18 occasions, West Ham on 30 and there have been 23 draws.

We start our look at the head-to-head back in those Southern League days. Modern managers may complain about fixture congestion, but it took five months to decide who out of Brighton or West Ham would progress to the third round of the 1907-08 Southern Professional Charity Cup in one of the most drawn out knockout competitions in Albion history.

The original second round tie took place on Wednesday 30th October 1907, a 0-0 draw at the Goldstone. Three months later, on Thursday 27th February 1908, the replay finally took place and that ended in another draw, this time 2-2 at the Boleyn Ground.

One month after that, the second replay eventually delivered a winner with the Irons triumphing 2-1 at neutral venue Stamford Bridge on Monday 30th March 1908.

West Ham’s promotion to the Football League in 1919 brought the curtain down on regular clashes between the clubs.

It was not until wartime football when the clubs began meeting again with the Hammers very much enjoying themselves anytime they crossed paths with Brighton.

The Albion failed to win a game against West Ham in 12 attempts whilst World War II was raging, conceding 44 times along the way at an average of just under four a game.

Once Hitler was defeated, it would be another 30 years or so before Brighton and West Ham met again. Unfortunately, it the reunion on Saturday 28th October 1978 had a terrible outcome.

Hammers fans ended up running riot at the Goldstone Ground, breaking out of their pen in the North East corner of the ground and invading home sections with the result being an elderly gentleman losing his life on the East Terrace.

Before 2004, Brighton had never won a Football League game away at West Ham. They broke their duck with one of the most ridiculous results any Albion side has ever recorded and easily the greatest triumph of the Mark McGhee era.

We are of course talking about the 1-0 win at the Boleyn Ground on Saturday 13th November 2004 when McGhee’s favoured 10-0-0 formation of the time worked a treat.

Despite the Irons having 187% possession and 75 shots on target, Guy Butters scored the only goal of the game to secure a shock success, much to the disbelief and dismay of the 29,514 in attendance.

The crowd that day was one of the biggest Brighton had played in front of for a regular league game for many years.

Speaking of big attendances, Peter Ward returned to Brighton colours on loan from Nottingham Forest for the visit of West Ham to the Goldstone in October 1982, instantly adding 5,000 to the gate from the previous home game to confirm his spot as one of the most popular players in Albion history.

He was also the best player on the pitch that day as goals from Gordon Smith, Steve Gatting and Michael Robinson gave the hosts a 3-1 victory.

Those two victories were rare high points in a fixture which Brighton otherwise often struggled in. One of the worst games the Albion have had against West Ham – in fact one of the worst games in recent Brighton history – came in a dreadful 6-0 defeat in April 2012.

West Ham stormed into a 3-0 lead after just 11 minutes on a day when Ricardo Vaz Te was made to look like Pele, Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo rolled into one.

It has been a different story though since Brighton won promotion to the Premier League in 2017. Starting with that memorable 3-0 win at the London Stadium back in the 2017-18 season, the Albion are undefeated against West Ham in their current top flight spell.

At home, Brighton have triumphed 3-1 twice, 1-0 and drawn 1-1 twice. The first 3-1 win in February 2018 saw Jose Izquierdo score of the best Amex goals ever when beating Lukasz Fabianski from 35 yards out on the left hand touchline.

The second of these 3-1 wins came on the final day of the 2021-22 season. It turned out to be the final Albion appearances of Yves Bissouma and Marc Cucurella, sold for a combined £87 million to Spurs and Chelsea respectively after helping the Seagulls to their highest ever finish on ninth.

August 2019 was the first stalemate between the sides at the Amex and it gave Albion supporters their first taste of VAR, ruling out a Leandro Trossard effort.

Trossard would go onto notch a legal goal in what was one of the most memorable Brighton debuts of recent times, but Graham Potter’s first home game in charge saw his side fail to take any more of their numerous chances to let West Ham off the hook – little did we know how often history would repeat itself over the next two seasons.

At the London Stadium, high-scoring draws have been the order of the day. Brighton have drawn 2-2 on two occasions and 1-1 twice, including when Neal Maupay struck a magnificent bicycle head in the 89th minute for an early 2021 Christmas present.

The best game of the lot however remains the 3-3 draw on Saturday 1st February 2020. A memorable afternoon not only because the Albion were 3-1 down entering the final 20 minutes, but it also saw Glenn Murray score his 111th and final goal in Brighton colours.