Jan Paul van Hecke voted WAB March 2024 Brighton Player of the Month

April 16, 2024April 16, 2024 WeAreBrighton.com 0 Comments

It was double Dutch delight in the WAB March 2024 Brighton Player of the Month award as Jan Paul van Hecke just about held off the challenge of compatriot Bart Verbruggen to win the vote by the slimmest of margins.

Only 1.68% separated the top two, giving Van Hecke his second Player of the Month award of the campaign to go with November 2023.

He must rank as one of the favourites to win Albion Player of the Season on what has been a seriously impressive first season as a regular starter.

Van Hecke has outshone Lewis Dunk in 2023-24, which as Brighton fans all know is easier said than done. In fact, no centre back has managed it since the 2014-15 campaign when Dunk established himself as one of the first names on the team sheet under Sami Hyypia.

Whilst Dunk struggled to get to grips with Romelu Lukaku as the Albion exited the Europa League at the hands of Roma, Van Hecke was one of the few players to emerge from the 4-0 defeat at the Stadio Olimpico with credit to his name.

He also dealt well with the threat posed by Darwin Nunez when Brighton gave Liverpool a fright at Anfield before falling to a 2-1 defeat against Jurgen Klopp’s title chasing Reds.

There were two clean sheets earned in March 2024 by Brighton and Van Hecke was central to those. Both shutouts came at the Amex and ensured the Albion beat Nottingham Forest 1-0 in the Premier League, followed four days later with victory by the same scoreline in the second leg against Roma.

Verbruggen was between the posts for the clean sheets having replaced Jason Steele following the heavy defeat in the Eternal City.

And having become the first Brighton goalkeeper to go more than 180 consecutive minutes without conceding this season, Verbruggen’s two shutouts finally led Roberto De Zerbi to drop his controversial rotation policy.

Verbruggen went onto make his third start in a row against Liverpool, producing a string of good saves. The best was a world class, one-handed stop at full stretch from Mo Salah.

He also came in for a lot of praise for his performance against Germany as the Netherlands suffered a 2-1 international friendly defeat in Frankfurt. Verbruggen seems certain to start for the Dutch at Euro 2024 this summer.

An Englishman was voted into third place behind the Oranje contingent in the March 2024 Brighton Player of the Month award.

Danny Welbeck picked up 14.28% of the vote having been the only Albion player to score a goal across Brighton’s five matches.

Welbeck struck the winner in the Amex clash with Roma via a fine strike from outside the box. He followed that up by giving the Seagulls a shock lead after only 85 seconds against Liverpool with another delightful finish, this time into the top corner on the volley.

The only other goal in Brighton’s favour during March came from Forest defender Andrew Omobamidele heading into his own net to gift the Albion victory over the Tricky Trees at the Amex.

Welbeck is out of contract this summer but based on his performances this season, he is deserving of a new deal for both his goals and the experience he lends to a young squad.