Four-midable Albion outclass Eagles: Brighton 4-1 Palace photos
The perfect football day? Quite possibly. From Brighton heaping embarrassment upon Crystal Palace by winning 4-1 on the pitch to the away section emptying long before the end and the hilarious argument between Eagles fans and players come full time, these photos capture it all.
This was a glorious 90 minutes in which the growing gap between Brighton and Palace was brutally demonstrated.
Less than 180 seconds were on the clock when Lewis Dunk headed home a Pascal Gross corner, giving the Albion the lead and celebrating right in front of the visiting supporters who have spent years hating on him.
That set the tone for what was to come. The Eagles could not lay a glove on Brighton. DeZerbiBall was in full flow as one-touch passing triangles around black shirts left Palace running around like dogs chasing balloons.
Goal two came via another header from another Sussex-born-and-bred talent. 18-year-old Jack Hinshelwood rose highest at the right hand post to loop the ball back into the left hand corner with Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson helpless.
Straight from kick off and the Albion added their third. Gross pressed to regain possession, played a one-two with Joao Pedro and then fed the ball into Facundo Buonanotte. The Argentine teenager duly picked out the top corner from 25 yards.
38 minutes gone, Brighton 3-0 Palace and already the self-proclaimed best fans in the world were deserting their team.
Those who opted to stay into the second half were treated to choruses of “You’re f**king s**t” and “Roy Hodgson, we want you to stay” from the Amex faithful.
Palace pulled a scarcely deserved consolation back in the second half via Jean-Philippe Mateta but the deficit was not cut to two for long.
Around 10 minutes later and Pedro completed the humiliation, collecting an outrageous Danny Welbeck flick and beating Henderson with an outside of the right boot finish.
It was the Albion’s biggest win over their arch rivals since the St Patrick’s Day Massacre of 2013 and the first time they had stuck four past Palace since November 1957.
Supporting Brighton does not get much better.
If you have any photos you would like included in our Brighton 4-1 Crystal Palace gallery, please e-mail them to wearebrighton@hotmail.co.uk or tweet them to us @wearebrighton
