Vote for your WeAreBrighton.com Player of the Month for November 2014
November heralded a third league win of the season but other than that it was another disappointing month as Brighton and Hove Albion slipped into the Championship relegation zone for the first time since promotion from League One in 2011.
That sole victory came against Wigan Athletic thanks to a Gary Gardner in front of a crowd of no more than 15,000, one of only two teams below the Albion in the table at the end of the month and who sacked their manager Uwe Rosler as a result.
Sami Hyypia hasn’t received that treatment yet and to give the Finn some credit, we did only lose twice in November, 3-2 away to high flying Bournemouth but more concerningly 2-1 at home to fellow strugglers Fulham.
There were two draws, a 1-1 stalemate against Blackburn Rovers and a highly entertaining 3-3 draw away at Norwich City in which the Albion were unlucky not to take all three points from the promotion challenging Canaries but in general, it was desperately poor fare again which leaves any one of eight bang average performers in with a shot on winning our WeAreBrighton.com Player of the Month award.
Sam Baldock
Netted in the defeat away at Bournemouth and earned the penalty from which Adrian Colunga scored the Albion’s third at Norwich. Sami Hyypia promptly rewarded him for hitting his best form of the season by dropping him for new arrival Darren Bent.
Elliott Bennett
His signing on loan from Norwich City has led to two positive developments in that it has invigorated the crowd and meant Hyypia has dropped his disastrous attacking full backs system. The popular winger played his part in the win over Wigan Athletic and the home draw with Blackburn Rovers and is staying on for another month. A welcome return.
Adrian Colunga
Mixed month for the forward in which he was the Albion’s joint top scorer and also managed to get sent off. Netted away at Bournemouth and at Norwich but picked up two bookings in the Fulham defeat for the ridiculous offences of taking a free kick too quickly and then aiming a kick at an opposition player.
Lewis Dunk
His fine form this season was rewarded when he was handed the captains armband for the first time for the game against Fulham with both Gordon Greer and Inigo Calderon out. It was another excellent month of defending from one of the only players to have emerged from this season with any credit so far.
Gary Gardner
The midfielder was handed his first real run in the side since arriving on-loan from Aston Villa and rewarded Hyypia’s decision with two goals in as many games, scoring the winner against Wigan and the opener in the draw with Blackburn, becoming the first regular scorer of goals from midfield in at least two seasons.
Gordon Greer
Scored a classic own goal in the defeat away at Bournemouth but otherwise another solid month for the captain alongside Lewis Dunk, most importantly in that vital shut out that paved the way for the win over Wigan.
Kazenga LuaLua
His latest injury comes as a real blow as once again he spent November as the Albion’s main attacking outlet, scoring against Norwich and tearing Fulham apart before his forced withdrawal changed the complex of that game and allowed the Cottagers back into proceedings.
David Stockdale
Missed the start of the month with injury but he justified his immediate return to the line up away at Norwich with several superb stops that helped earn the Albion a point before impressing against his former club Fulham. There are still questions about his distribution though.
Christian Walton
The Albion’s young back up goalkeeper didn’t put a foot wrong in the two games he played in David Stockdale’s absence which yielded four of the months five points, including a rare clean sheet at home against Wigan when he was named the sponsors man of the match.
