Vote for your WeAreBrighton.com Player of the Month for March 2014
The first real signs of discontent since Brighton and Hove Albion moved into the Amex nearly three years ago have begun running around the stadium despite the fact that Oscar Garcia’s side are still in the race for the play offs entering the final month of the campaign.
True, there were three consecutive defeats to end March as Ipswich Town and Middlesbrough both left Sussex with all three points in 2-0 victories while sandwiched between those two was the traditional last minute loss that seems to happen every time we visit Sheffield Wednesday.
There were still three victories, 1-0 away at Millwall, 2-0 away at Bolton Wanderers and a hugely impressive 2-0 win against highly fancied Queens Park Rangers while top six rivals Reading were held to a draw.
Perhaps the biggest indictment of the month though comes with the names on the shortlist as stalwarts such as Matthew Upson, Gordon Greer, Bruno and Kazenga LuaLua all miss out, perhaps indicating that it was disappointing form from the more reliable players that led to such a poor end to March.
Will Buckley
When fit and on his day, he can be one of the best wide men in the Championship. Luckily for the Albion, he had one of those days in the 2-0 win away at Bolton Wanderers, scoring both of the Albion’s goals at the Reebok Stadium.
Lewis Dunk
Two appearances in March, two clean sheets in both those games. He deputised firstly for the suspended Gordon Greer in the win over Queens Park Rangers and then the virus stricken Matthew Upson against Bolton. For most peoples money, he did enough to keep the shirt after those two performances but Oscar Garcia obviously didn’t agree as he was cast back to the bench straight away.
Rohan Ince
Well and truly a first team regular now, he missed the win at Millwall but was otherwise an ever present through a busy March. He may not have been as impressive as he had been since Liam Bridcutt’s departure in January but was still one of the Albion’s better performers.
Tomasz Kuszczak
Another three clean sheets with rock solid performances coming away in the wins at Millwall and Bolton and in particular in the home victory over Queens Park Rangers. Any remaining hopes that the Albion have of making the play offs will revolve around him maintaining this form through until the end of the season.
Leonardo Ulloa
The runaway winner of February’s Player of the Month for scoring all five of Brighton’s goals, he understandably failed to hit those heights again scoring just the once in March. But it was a key goal, turning the tide of the QPR game in the Albion’s favour.
Stephen Ward
While everyone else may have been floundering around, the on-loan left back had arguably his best month for the club, netting the second goal in the win over QPR and being one of the only players to emerge from the Middlesbrough defeat with any credit.
