Chris O’Grady voted WeAreBrighton.com Player of the Month for January 2015
The biggest indication of the difference that Chris Hughton has made in his first month in charge of Brighton and Hove Albion comes from the top three for our WeAreBrighton.com Player of the Month poll for January 2015.
None of Chris O’Grady, Rohan Ince or Sam Baldock had made a particularly big impression on the season under Sami Hyypia yet five games into the Hughton era they already done enough to be considered the three best players in January.
O’Grady took the prize with over 50% of the vote having returned from a loan spell at Sheffield United looking a completely different player to the one who looked like a fish out of water under Hyypia. The striker had to bide his time, making his first three appearances of January from the substitutes bench but has managed to break his duck with FA Cup goals away at Brentford and at home to Arsenal, helping to ensure his place as Hughton’s current first choice striker.
Another player who was having a hit-and-miss season before Hughton’s arrival, Ince now looks to be getting back to the same sort of form that earned him rave reviews in the autumn of 2013. He scored his first league goal at Charlton Athletic and excelled against Arsenal’s world class midfield, keeping Alexis Sanchez in particular quiet for most of the Gunners visit to the Amex.
Baldock has found himself playing wide on the left under Hughton rather than through the middle and it is a move that appears to be paying dividends after he netted two first class goals – one in the victory over Ipswich Town and the other in the FA Cup game with Arsenal – to finally start looking like a £2m forward.
Chris O’Grady – 56.67%
Rohan Ince – 26.67%
Sam Baldock – 6.67%
Joao Teixeira – 5%
Lewis Dunk – 3.33%
Inigo Calderon – 1.67%
