Vote for your WeAreBrighton.com Player of the Month for November 2011
After a winless October, three wins and two defeats represented a much improved November for Brighton and Hove Albion, especially in light of the fact that one of those defeats came with 10 men against Championship leaders Southampton.
A disappointing defeat away at Watford opened the month but there were big improvements with a 2-0 win over Barnsley, a 2-1 victory against Coventry City and a surprising 1-0 success away at Derby County for a first win on the road since the start of September.
The loss at Southampton came in controversial circumstances as Mauricio Taricco saw red. Taricco is one of two surprising names on the shortlist for our November Player of the Month given that he retired for the second time in the space of four months in September, only to be called upon again by Gus Poyet four weeks later.
The other is that of Casper Ankergren, cast aside in favour of Steve Harper in October but recalled for the game against Coventry before putting in a man-of-the-match display to earn a clean sheet at Pride Park.
Casper Ankergren
The goalkeeper watched from the bench as Steve Harper completed his loan spell before he was recalled to the side in the win against Coventry. He followed that up by putting in a superb performance to record a clean sheet away at Derby.
Liam Bridcutt
Had an absolute shocker away at Watford but he recovered brilliant from that with a set of performances that reaffirmed his value to the club, including an assist for Romain Vincelot’s goal against Coventry.
Gordon Greer
The captain continues to impress and put in another good month. He was outstanding against Barnsley and capped a man-of-the-match display with a rare goal before being a major part of the dogged defensive displays against Coventry and Derby.
Craig Mackail-Smith
Scored for the first time since September with the winner at Derby and his hard work earned the own goal against Coventry. The Scotland international has had to make the most of limited service as well as looking like a fish out of water when asked to play as a wide man at Southampton to accommodate Billy Paynter.
Craig Noone
The standout player so far this season had a quieter month by his high standards so far but he still did enough to make the list. Noone looked dangerous in the two games he started and defenders at this level genuinely don’t seem to know how to deal with him.
Mauricio Taricco
Tano put in one of the outstanding performances of the season in playing 90 minutes against Barnsley a month after retiring for the third time in his career. He was also on hand to help out at Watford and received a quite brilliant red card at Southampton for telling the inept Peter Walton exactly what he thought of his refereeing.
