Vote for your WeAreBrighton.com Player of the Month for April 2012
Brighton and Hove Albion’s Championship play-off challenge came to an abrupt halt in the final month of the season as they slipped from sixth spot at the start of April to a final position of 10th thanks to their failure to win in six games.
The writing should’ve been on the wall when the month opened with a 1-0 defeat at Burnley during which Gus Poyet stormed down the tunnel with five minutes still to play. That was followed by a 1-0 defeat at home to Reading in which the Albion couldn’t find a way past the outstanding Adam Federici and a crossing 6-0 loss at West Ham United with the Hammers 3-0 up inside of 20 minutes at Upton Park.
That was effectively curtains for the Seagulls play off hopes which led Poyet to hand a debut to Colombian goalkeeper David Gonzalez at home to Watford. He had an absolute shocker yet the Albion did manage to rescue a 2-2 draw having been 2-0 behind at the break with draws at home to Birmingham City and away at Barnsley round off the campaign.
This will probably be the hardest of all our Player of the Month polls this season to pick a winner from as nearly everybody has been dreadful – in effect, you’re actually voting for the player who was the least worst. And to think, we had such high hopes at the end of March as well.
Ashley Barnes
Scored 33% (one out of three) of the Albion’s goals in April with his strike in the penultimate game of the campaign at home to Birmingham City and while he continues to divide opinion among the fans, he ended the season as top scorer and is clearly considered a vital part of the team by Poyet.
Liam Bridcutt
Our hopes of making the play offs were always likely to be effected by him missing the first two games of the month through suspension and he was given a baptism of fire on his return to the side in the West Ham debacle. Rallied from that to again become a key men in the final three games.
Inigo Calderon
The runner up in our March Player of the Month poll had another excellent month, keeping Gonzalo Jara out of the side even though the Chilean was back from suspension and scoring for the third time in seven games from right back in the draw against Watford.
Adam El-Abd
Gordon Greer’s injury saw him take over as the leader of the defence and he stepped up to the plate well, helping to ease Lewis Dunk back into the side after his recent absence. He was particularly impressive in the home games, none more so than against eventual champions Reading.
Joe Mattock
Became the first known Brighton player to miss a game through a ‘male grooming accident’ at the start of the month, his return for the final two games of the campaign highlighted just how well he has adapted to the Albion way of football. We wouldn’t say no to seeing him sign permanently next season from West Bromwich Albion.
Alan Navarro
The out on contract midfielder was outstanding at the start of the month as he made light work of Liam Bridcutt’s absence through suspension. His best two games came at home against Reading and Watford and if this was to be his last month as an Albion player, he at least went out on a high in terms of his personal performances.
Vicente
Last months winner dragged himself off his sickbed to claim another assist in the comeback draw against Watford and he gave one of the Championship’s best defences a torrid time in running the game against Birmingham City. He hasn’t hit the heights of last month admittedly, but was still a joy to watch.
