What happened to the Brighton team from Lewis Dunk’s debut?
Saturday 1st May 2010. MK Dons 0-0 Albion. A game that would have been instantly forgotten and never spoken of again were it not for Lewis Dunk making his Brighton debut.
400 Seagulls appearances later and Dunk has gone from teenager playing in League One at Withdean Stadium to Premier League captain, England international and one of the finest defenders in the country.
To illustrate how far both Lewis Dunk and Brighton have come since his debut, we thought it would be interesting to look at the teammates he played alongside at stadium:mk that day.
Which turned out to be a good move, as Gus Poyet‘s He Who Must Not Be Named’s starting XI featured some absolute characters.
Peter Brezovan
Sexy Pete Brezovan had been the first signing Poyet made as Brighton manager after very quickly identifying that Graeme Smith was not very good.
Brezovan gave away a penalty on his debut at Exeter City in December which he then subsequently saved; exactly the sort of nonsense that instantly endears a player to supporters.
By the time Lewis Dunk made his Brighton debut at MK Dons, Brezovan was firmly established as Albion number one. That was until an injury in pre-season led Poyet to bring in Casper Ankergren, who Brezovan battled for the gloves over the next couple of seasons.
He played 62 times for Brighton until being released in the summer of 2014, after which he went onto represent Portsmouth, Tranmere Rovers and Southport. Sexy Pete was also a keen artist and painted in his spare time.
Adam El-Abd
Adam El-Abd had been something of a jack of all trades, master of none before Poyet arrived at Withdean. Mark McGhee, Dean Wilkins, Micky Adams and then Russell Slade had used him at centre back, left back, right back and even as a midfielder.
Gus though soon decided that El-Abd’s best position was in the middle of defence, although interestingly the Egyptian King was shunted out to the right so Lewis Dunk could make his Brighton debut at MK Dons.
More than a few eyebrows were then raised when Poyet went onto describe El-Abd as the best defender at the Albion.
There is a reason why Gus was a highly paid football manager and 8,000 of us were munching on a bacon and sausage baguette in the Withdean South Stand, and El-Abd soon proved his boss right by winning Player of the Season as Brighton won the League One title in 2010-11.
The signing of Matthew Upson in January 2013 pushed El-Abd down the pecking order and he left the Albion a year later after 340 appearances for the club and seven international caps for Egypt.
El-Abd played for Bristol City, Shrewsbury Town, Wycombe Wanderers, Whitehawk and Worthing. He retired from playing in August 2022.
Tommy Elphick
The first centre back partner Lewis Dunk had in his Brighton career was Tommy Elphick, himself a youth team product who had become a hugely popular figure and winner of a Player of the Season award.
Elphick took the crown in his first campaign as a regular when the Albion finished seventh in League One in 2007-08.
Despite Poyet having reservations about whether Elphick fitted into Brighton’s new passing out from the back style, he continued to play regularly right the way through until a ruptured Achilles tendon on the final day of the 2010-11 season at Notts County ruled him out for 14 months.
That day at Meadow Lane was the 182nd and last time Elphick wore a Albion shirt in a competitive match. Needing first team football after a long 14 month road back from injury, he signed for Plucky Little Bournemouth in August 2012.
Elphick became of the Cherries star players as they rose from League One to the Premier League, playing 146 times for Bournemouth.
He also turned out for Aston Villa, Reading, Hull and Huddersfield Town and is now back at the Vitality Stadium as assistant manager to Gary O’Neil.
Gavin Hoyte
When injury ruled out Andy Whing in October 2009, Slade turned to Arsenal loanee Gavin Hoyte to fill the void. Hoyte was not particularly good, which made it something of a surprise that his loan spell was extended from an initial one month to three and then all the way through until the end of the season.
Each of those extensions was sanctioned by a different manager. Slade had been sacked at the end of October, meaning it fell to caretaker boss Martin Hinshelwood to keep Hoyte until January. Poyet was then in charge when Brighton decided to keep Hoyte until the summer.
Hoyte made 21 appearances for the Albion at both right and left back. Easily his best moment was a superb red card in a crazy 4-4 FA Cup draw at Wycombe Wanderers, when he completely lost his mind and booted striker Jon-Paul Pittman.
Hinshelwood summed things up very eloquently, saying afterwards: “He has kicked out and he has got to learn from that.”
It was a lesson Hoyte had to learn away from Withdean. The captures of Inigo Calderon and Marcos Painter meant Poyet had no need to seek a permanent deal for Hoyte, who became something of a journeyman after his time at Brighton.
Amongst his future employers were Lincoln City, AFC Wimbeldon, Dagenham & Redbridge, Gillingham, Barnet, Eastleigh and Maidstone. He won three caps for Trinidad & Tobago whilst at the Priestfield Stadium between 2014 and 2015.
Elliott Bennett
What a player Elliott Bennett was. One of the first signings of the Tony Bloom era when Brighton suddenly had money to spend, Slade bought him from Wolverhampton Wanderers for a six figure fee in August 2009.
He spent the next two seasons tearing up League One. His numbers in the 2010-11 campaign were frankly ridiculous; eight goals and 20 assists earned Bennett a spot in the PFA Team of the Year.
That form did not go unnoticed and Bennett was the subject of a £1.5 million bid from Norwich City in January. Bloom said no and Bennett handed in a transfer request to try and push through a move. Again, Bloom said no.
Bennett was the perfect professional after that, knuckling down and helping the Albion to promotion. He was rewarded that summer when Bloom sanctioned a move to Carrow Road, where Bennett went onto play Premier League football.
He returned to Brighton for a brief loan spell in the autumn of 2014, spent five years with Blackburn Rovers between 2016 and 2021 and is now at Shrewsbury Town where he continues to sing the praises of the Albion via social media.
Lee Hendrie
Yes, former England international midfielder Lee Hendrie not only played for Brighton, but he was in the starting XI on the day Lewis Dunk made his debut.
Poyet signed Hendrie from Derby County on loan deadline day in March 2010. He made six starts and two substitute appearances, marking his debut from the bench against Tranmere Rovers with a brilliant turn and pass to set up Ashley Barnes for a third Albion goal.
Hendrie wanted to sign a permanent contract with Brighton that summer but Poyet went in another direction, bringing in Radostin Kishishev and then Liam Bridcutt to vie for the holding midfield role.
After playing for a huge number of clubs on the non-league circuit, Hendrie opened up in 2020 about the pitfalls that come with being a professional footballer.
He revealed he had twice tried to take his own life after his property portfolio crumbled and had problems with drink. The openness turned Hendrie into an inspirational figure and he is now a popular media pundit.
Diego Arismendi
A classic of the do not judge a player until you have seen him in action genre, some Brighton fans hailed the capture of Uruguayan midfielder Diego Arismendi on loan as one of the biggest transfer coups of the 2009-10 League One season.
This was based on nothing more than him costing Stoke City £1.5 million and being South American. It soon became apparent that neither traits made him a good footballer.
The debut of Lewis Dunk proved to be Arismedi’s final game in a Brighton shirt. He was sent off before half time for fighting with Dons player-coach Alex Rae.
That left Arismendi’s contribution in two months in a Brighton shirt totalling a red card for the first team, a red card for the reserves after headbutting an opponent and a complaint about him blasting out loud music in the early hours of the morning from the house he was staying in. Oh, and his girlfriend also left him to return to Uruguay.
Surprisingly, he has managed to eke out a near-300 game career since returning to South America in 2012, according to Wikipedia.
His Wikipedia page also contains the fantastic entry of: “Whilst living in England, Arismendi was branded a ‘sex pest’ after forcing his neighbour to move due to hosting late night parties.”
Andrew Crofts
Brighton captain on the day Lewis Dunk made his debut was Andrew Crofts. It was also to be the penultimate appearance of his first spell as an Albion player with his nine goals from midfield convincing Norwich to pay £250,000 to take him to Carrow Road that summer.
Crofts had been a free transfer capture from Gillingham a year earlier. One of Poyet’s first acts as manager was to install him as club captain.
There was no looking back from there with the combative midfielder going onto win Player of the Season at the end of the 2009-10 campaign.
After helping Norwich to promotion into the Premier League, Crofts was re-signed by Poyet in 2012. His second spell at the club was blighted by a couple of serious injuries and he eventually left again in 2015, only to return as player-coach for the Under 23s in 2019.
Crofts has since worked his way up the coaching hierarchy at the Albion. He went from player-coach to manager of the Under 23s, was put in caretaker charge of the first team when Glow Up Graham Potter walked out before being promoted to permanent first team coach in Roberto De Zerbi’s staff.
Sebastien Carole
They say never go back, but they do not say never go back twice. Sebastien Carole is a rare example of a player signed on three separate occasions by Brighton with varying degrees of success.
He was one of the few bright sparks in the 2005-06 season when the Albion finished rock bottom of the Championship after arriving a few weeks into the campaign from Monaco.
That form earned Carole a move to The Leeds United for 2006-07. Carole’s second spell with Brighton came when Micky Adams brought him in from Darlington in January 2009, despite the fact the French winger was struggling to get a game in League Two at the time.
He made just 12 appearances and none in the final seven games as Russell Slade masterminded the Great Escape from relegation.
If Adams signing Carole seemed strange, then Poyet bringing him back to the club a year later in January 2010 was even weirder.
The two had worked together at Elland Road but even so, Poyet would have been hard pressed to explain how a bloke who had made four appearances in the previous six months at Tranmere Rovers was going to improve the Albion.
Carole played a further 10 times in his third and final spell. He later dropped into non league, rattling through a host of clubs in Yorkshire including Guiseley, Harrogate Town and Bradford Park Avenue whilst his son Keenan remained in Leeds’ accademy.
Keenan Carole has since signed his first professional contract with the 1996 Coca Cola Cup runners up. Maybe Brighton can sign him four times, just so he outdoes his old man?
Chris Holroyd
So little was the impact striker Chris Holroyd had at Brighton that it is difficult to find a picture of him in the red and black away kit worn when Lewis Dunk made his debut at MK Dons.
Holroyd was the first signing Poyet paid money for, shelling out £75,000 to Cambridge United for his services in January 2010.
He managed six starts and 12 substitute appearances in his 18 months at Withdean before being released on a free to join Rotherham United.
Holroyd scored zero goals for Brighton and it is hard to recall him having a shot on target. He certainly did not manage it at stadium:mk, where Brighton did not muster a single effort.
He was however friendly, down to earth and had a wonderful sense of humour. After he had missed a penalty in a pre-season friendly against Burgess Hill Town, the WAB Team consoled him with words of comfort along the lines of “Unlucky today, Chris.”
His response: “I am never going to score for Brighton, am I?” We loved the honesty and the self-deprecation. Holroyd was of course right, but he did go onto get a lot of goals at Conference level with Macclesfield Town and Wrexham after leaving the Albion.
Gary Dicker (Replaced Hendrie, 58 minutes)
With the trip to MK Dons being a dead rubber, Poyet opted to leave two of his regular central midfielders on the bench to give starting opportunities to Hendrie and Arismendi.
The first to enter the fray as a substitute was Gary Dicker. The Irish midfielder had joined initially on loan from Stockport County the previous season and played a huge role in the Great Escape.
Dicker was made a permanent addition in the summer of 2010. He played 144 times for the Albion and was a crucial part of the League One title winning side of 2010-11.
After nearly a decade away from Brighton, Dicker returned as player-coach for the Under 21s in 2022. He got off to a cracking start with a straight red card for a horror challenge on Emmanuel Osadebe as the Seagulls lost 1-0 at Walsall in the Papa John’s Trophy.
Dicker hung up his boots four months after that interesting evening at the Bescot Stadium. He is now assistant manager to Under 21s head honcho Shannon Ruth.
Alan Navarror (Replaced Carole, 59 minutes)
The second regular central midfielder to come on at stadium:mk was Alan Navarro, returning to face the club Brighton signed him from on a free transfer the previous summer.
Navarro took some time to get going in an Albion shirt with many fans not rating him in during his first three months at Withdean.
Like so many others, the arrival of Poyet changed all that. By the time Navarro suffered a cruciate knee injury two games into the 2010-11 season, he was considered one of the most important players at the club.
Navarro battled back, regaining a first team spot in the 2011-12 season. His only Albion goal came that year, a memorable last minute winner away at Leeds.
He was released in the summer of 2012, joining Swindon Town. Naturally, his debut for the Robins came against Brighton in the League Cup.
Having scored once in 85 matches for the Albion, he bagged two on his Swindon bow as Brighton were well beaten 3-0 at the County Ground.
Marcos Painter (Replaced El-Abd, 66 minutes)
In a sign of how turgid the Brighton debut of Lewis Dunk was, Poyet’s third and final substitution was left back Painter replacing right back El-Abd and Hoyte switching sides.
Part of the reason for this was that Ashley Barnes was the only striker on the Albion bench. Poyet did not want the on-loan Plymouth Argyle man to come on and score a fifth goal in eight games to push the Pigrims’ summer asking price any higher.
Like Barnes, Painter was also a temporary signing acquired from Swansea City in January. And like Barnes, Brighton would bring him in permanently that summer.
Painter went onto play all 46 matches in the 2010-11 title season. He made exactly 100 appearances before moving to Portsmouth in 2013.
