Hatters given opening day hammering: Brighton 4-1 Luton photos
There is nothing quite like the opening day of a new football season and as our photos from Brighton against Luton Town show, the excitement is magnified when the Albion run out 4-1 winners.
The sun shone (kind of), the American Express Stadium had enjoyed a summer sprucing up with new signage and a lick of paint and we were treated to blue and white pyrotechnics before kick off.
Even the trains seemed to run okay… until after the game at least, when a series of incidents left all lines completely gridlocked. Best relax with a pint and a scotch egg costing nearly six Great British pounds.
Facing the Hatters looked like a potential banana skin before kick off. Luton have defied all the odds to win four promotions from non-league football to the Premier League in the space of nine years.
They arrived at the Amex fired up for their top flight debut and wanting to prove all those who have already described them as relegation certainties wrong, backed by a 3,000 strong army of fans dressed like Just Stop Oil protesters.
In the past, it was exactly the sort of fixture Brighton would have struggled in. Not so with Roberto De Zerbi at the helm… aside from the infamous 5-1 home defeat to Everton at the back end of last season.
The Albion gave a professional performance to rack up a winning margin big enough to put them top of the table for a few brief hours until Newcastle United thrashed Aston Villa 5-1.
Solly March opened the scoring in the first half for Brighton. Record £30 million signing from Watford, Joao Pedro marked his Albion debut with a goal from the penalty spot on 71 minutes.
10 minutes later and Carlton Morris pulled one back when Luton were awarded a controversial penalty of their own for a handball against Lewis Dunk.
For a brief moment, the Hatters had hopes of a comeback. Brighton though quickly dashed those, stepping up another gear and adding two late goals through Simon Adingra and Evan Ferguson.
If you have any photos you would like included in our Brighton 4-1 Luton gallery, please e-mail them to wearebrighton@hotmail.co.uk or tweet them to us @wearebrighton
