Big flag for De Zerbi’s big entrance: Brighton 0-1 Spurs photos
Roberto De Zerbi received quite the welcome for his first home game in charge of the Albion. And it is that giant Italy flag passed across the North Stand to greet the new boss ahead of Brighton 0-1 Spurs which features in most of your photos.
This being Brighton, there was of course some sort of cock up involved. The flag was displayed 10 minutes before kick off, between the players completing their warm ups and coming back onto the pitch for kick off.
That meant neither the Albion squad nor De Zerbi actually saw the flag, purchased through £1600 worth of generous donations by Seagulls supporters.
By the time the teams entered the field to the tune of Good Old Sussex By The Sea, it had been furled back up again.
If the flag is to appear at the next home game against Nottingham Forest, then it should be whipped out for the players’ arrival rather than when there was nobody around to appreciate the effort.
Italy flags also littered the away end as Spurs fans paid tribute to Gian Piero Ventrone, their club’s fitness coach who had passed away earlier in the week following a short battle with leukemia.
Winning for Ventrone gave Tottenham added motivation to pick up three points as a fitting tribute. And once Harry Kane had given Spurs a 22nd minute lead, they resolutely defended their way to a clean sheet and 1-0 win.
For Brighton, it was a first home defeat since Tottenham themselves had triumphed 2-0 at the Amex in March, when Kane had again been the Seagulls’ tormentor in chief.
Not the debut De Zerbi would have wanted in front of the Albion faithful – and certainly nowhere near as fun as last week’s 3-3 draw at Liverpool – but no disgrace either in losing to a Spurs side determined to mark the passing of Ventrone with victory.
If you have any photos you would like included in our Brighton 0-1 Spurs gallery, please e-mail them to wearebrighton@hotmail.co.uk or tweet them to us @wearebrighton
